If i were you, then i would pay half the bill if he wasnt insured and just the excess if he was insured... so, since this guy is insured, i would only pay the excess.

At the end of the day, both dogs were offlead. Both owners were too far away to see exactly what happened, and who started the fight. Both dogs were injured. From what you said in your OP, the owner knows his dog can be aggressive, and said dog has been aggressive to yours in the past... so he is just to blame as you. What about payment for your dogs injuries? I assume you paid those too.

Also, re. insurance companies upping the price the next year after claims... not all of them do, and depending on what policy you have. Jake had a claim for £1050 this summer, and when his policy went up... it went up a £1... hardly a lot compared to what the bill was (and since he has only had the policy a year, they paid out a lot more than i have paid them!). So if he has to claim off his insurance, his cost wont neccessarily go up.

I would also offer to pay the excess I think.

What would annoy me is that originally, albeit a while ago, it was his dog who attacked or pinned yours first. So my view would be that actually, he has to take some of the "blame" (financially) because he has some responsibility.

Just my take on it - I think he's being unfair, although, obviously, protective about his dog, which is understandable.

Wys
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He wants me to pay the excess now and leave my details with a neutral third party for him to pass onto his insurers so they can claim the money from me.

I totally understand how he feels about his dog, I would feel exactly the same, they are, after all, our companions.

I wouldn't be prepared to do that. I might offer to pay the excess on the understanding that thats it, over and finished, but I wouldn't partially "admit liability." In fact, the way you've described it, I'd now be asking him for half my vet fees if I were you.

I would find out his excess and write a cheque, made payable to his insurers, and give it to him. That way he can't cash the cheque for himself and things are done and dusted.

Why make it out to his insurers when he's the one who has to pay the excess?

Because OP said "and leave my details with a neutral third party for him to pass onto his insurers so they can claim the money from me.". Would be either insurers or the vet I presume, as his vets apparently claim direct, so the owner should have no need to have the money himself.

He might have paid the bill already i would check with the vet because i pay all my bills upfront and wait for the money.

Even if a vet claims direct you still have to pay the excess the insurance company don't send that to the vet.

I'm just going on what the OP said. The owner of the dog wanted the OP to leave their details to pass on to the insurers so the insurers could claim the excess from OP, so I presumed a cheque to the insurers would achieve the same thing but would get the whole situation resolved and over and done with before the owner changed his mind again, rather than OP waiting on tenterhooks for the insurers to get in touch or for the owner to come back and say they want more money.