http://www.doglaw.co.uk/damages.php

I am not sure why your vet would think there was something wrong with the other dog's teeth, dog saliva is notoriously full of bacteria and thus it is probable that any bite will become infected if not treated promptly.

whether or not insurance companies load premia on past claims, if the owner has an annual rather than a for life policy, any future claims relating to that area may be excluded.

If I were you I would counter his view with your own vet bill. As you both have previous and thus have prior knowledge of the potential for the dogs to fight, this will be dealt with via the small claims court if at all.

Over and beyond this you can take away a learning from it, always call your dog back to you if you cannot see what is around the corner...................

Good luck

It'll cost him thousands to try and sue you so not worth his while.

He might try small claims - but that'll cost approx £70, and if he does you just counter claim in your reply.

I was a bit surprised by my vets comments, but I was also surprised at how quickly the wound started to smell bad, less than 12 hours!

I usually keep him as close to me as possible and keep an eye out for other dogs, but this time I just missed that important moment ... just goes to show, you cant miss a thing!

I shall wait and see what happens .... not what either of us needs at this time of year.

If it wasnt a doggie, I dont think I would be so worried....

If I believed my dog had started it then I would be paying the bill. Yes, the owner could claim on insurance but that will eat into his claim amount - some insurers only allow up to a certain amount of claims to be made, regardless of whether they're for different conditions. If the owner only has, say, a £2000 limit on what they can claim for then why should they be down £400 on that for your dog biting theirs? Not to mention that not all vets will claim direct from insurers - who needs to be £400 out of pocket over Christmas whilst waiting for their insurance to process the claim and send a cheque out?
For the future, if you join the Dogs Trust - it's about £10-15 a year I believe - you get 3rd party insurance for this sort of thing included, too cheap to not do it if you don't have regular dog insurance IMO.

Is that not why you have insurance? to pay for accidents, emergency and illness? If you think that way, at what point do you claim?

This vets do claim direct from the insurers and again I wll say, if he claims on the insurance and I pay him the full amount, it is fraud....

I pay for insurance so that if my dog hurts itself then they're covered, or for illnesses etc. I don't see why I should be punished for someone else's dog biting mine. Think of it like car insurance - if an uninsured driver hit you and offered to pay for the damage, would you rather they pay you the £400 it took to fix it or the £75 excess to claim the repairs on your own insurance? OK, dog insurance doesn't tend to go up by previous claims but in general, the more claims, the more prices go up as a whole with insurers - they need to make up the money they'd paid out somehow.
If you're concerned about fraud I would perhaps offer to settle the balance with the vets directly - whether this is the excess, if he's claiming, or the full balance if he doesn't. Vets would have to fill out a form if he's claiming so they'll know if he's trying it on.
Legally, you could probably get away with it - it'd be hard to point the blame either way, let alone prove it, but morally if you really believe your dog started it then I'd be offering whatever it took to get the dog patched up.

Personally I think you should pass the whole thing over to your insurance company.
Strictly speaking, a fight between two offlead dogs isn`t the sort of situation where you can allot blame. After all, it could have gone either way.

If your dog started the fight, why should the owner claim on his insurance, his premiums will go up next time round , so it will cost him for claiming..

If you pay his vets bills and he also claims on his insurance, then yes he is committing fraud.

I am surprised, his insurance gave you information on his policy ( is that what you said?)

I think the lesson to be learnt here, is as someone has already said, never go blind around a bend that you cant see whats there.

Whether you pay his bills or not is up to you, maybe its best you go for knock for knock!!

It's just gone up to £25 pa, with a £250 excess IIRC, but still pretty good value for third party cover imo.

I would happily go knock for knock, he wouldnt hear of it, just shouted at me and hung up.

He told me the name of his insurance company and I called them to ask the question,..' if someone claimed, would the policy go up next year BECAUSE of it?'.., they said no it wouldnt. His policy was not discussed.