Dog attacked at organised event.

TomT_2

Hi,
We attended a paid for social event for dogs of a similar breed. All the dogs were off lead and running around.

One dog has run over and bitten our dog resulting in him have to have a general anesthesic to be stiched up. Luckily I have a video showing this happening.  Unfortunately our dog isn't insured so we out of pocket by a lot.

The organisers have a disclaimer on there site saying you attend at your own risk. They have contacted the other dog owners who called me and asked for a copy of the video. I've provided that and now they are blocking or ignoring us.

Any suggestions on how we can proceed with this ? Does the organiser have any liability ? Any other ideas ?

Thanks

sheramber

The organiser would only be liable of they told you to let your dog off the lead.

Otherwise it was choice to do so. 

You will need to approach the other owner to pay your vet fees. If they don't then it is a civil case and you could make a claim through the small claims court. 

TomT_2

Thanks for the reply.
Unfortunately we don't have the other dog owners details, only there phone number and Instagram page so I don't know how we could take them to court.

Any ideas ? Thanks

tacpot12

You could ask the organisers if they have the other owners details, but even if they have them, they may not be able to release them to you because of data protection. (The organisers would have had to have told people that their data might be released to other attendees and under what circumstances). 

Your best hope is to follow them home from a similar event that they attend. You might need to get some other owners working for you to let you know if they are seen at other events. 

I would recommend getting your dog insured.

Ms_Chocaholic

Could the other dog's owner be a breeder, have a business, do you have a first name even, could you search social media, do you live in a small area or a large town/city.

TomT_2

Hi. We now know the owners first names, have one of there mobile numbers and both there's and the dogs social media accounts. They appear to be being evasive to protect its online image.

I'm going to try calling them and see if they will accept responsibility for there dogs actions.

Thanks

Penguin_

Post the video & tag them in it on the social media, that'll get there attention.

Undervalued

sheramber said:

The organiser would only be liable of they told you to let your dog off the lead.

Otherwise it was choice to do so. 

You will need to approach the other owner to pay your vet fees. If they don't then it is a civil case and you could make a claim through the small claims court. 

I don't agree.

They could potentially be liable if they were in any way negligent. Would a "reasonable" organiser of such an event have behaved they way this one did? If so, it is unlikely they were legally negligent. However if a more prudent / professional organiser would have acted differently, then this one may be at fault.

Undervalued

TomT_2 said:

Thanks for the reply.
Unfortunately we don't have the other dog owners details, only there phone number and Instagram page so I don't know how we could take them to court.

Any ideas ? Thanks

It can apparently be done. I believe claims have been successfully served to @ twitter (etc) addresses.

You need to take some legal advice if you are thinking of going down this route, bit the ensure there is likely to be a legal liability and, assuming there is, how best to serve a claim.

elsien

Where were the other dog's owners when this happened? All the events like this I am aware of, the owners are all present so didn't the other dogs owners come running over to see what had happened?

FWIW, there is a breed specific "play date" set up for my breed but it's not a formally organised thing, more someone on facebook saying "I've booked the field, it's £x if you want to come along, only come if you can ensure your dog is ok with others."   Many people only know each other off FB, not in person, and no contact information is needed to attend, just paypal to pay your share. I don't go to them because I don't trust people I don't know to keep their dogs under control and the breed in question can cause a lot of damage very quickly. 

If your event is similar, rather than being a formally organised and insured event, then I suspect getting details for anyone to be held liable is going to be near impossible unless they co-operate.
So how was the event organised?

TomT_2

Undervalued said:

TomT_2 said:

Thanks for the reply.
Unfortunately we don't have the other dog owners details, only there phone number and Instagram page so I don't know how we could take them to court.

Any ideas ? Thanks

It can apparently be done. I believe claims have been successfully served to @ twitter (etc) addresses.

You need to take some legal advice if you are thinking of going down this route, bit the ensure there is likely to be a legal liability and, assuming there is, how best to serve a claim.

Thanks I would be interested in looking into this further, but I guess the cost would be more than the current vet fees.