Sorry if I've got this wrong, but as I understand it -

You have an itemised invoice with no company name etc on it. You also have visa receipts with specific amounts paid that state the vet's practice name. Therefore, would it be at all possible to match it up so that you know which bits of treatment cost how much?

You could always approach the vets themselves, explain what happened and ask them to clarify that there was in fact £700 of treatment. There would be no breach of data protection so no reason for them to refuse.

Also, if you think they may have sent the original invoice(s) off to their own insurance, you should probably let your own insurance know of your thughts. It may be perfectly legitimate that your own insurance pay their dog insurance company if this is the case. However, if everythign is paid by their own insurance company and your insurance company pay them instead of the insurance company direct, this would be fraud, deception theft. I'm certainly not saying that this is actually what is happening but if it does, then you can add this to the criminal damage and burglary already committed by your neighbour in her attempts to hurt Ben, alongside the offences under s5 PO Act.

If her behaviour towards you and Ben is continuing, I wouldn't bother warning her or trying to resolve anything verbally. I would keep a diary or incidents, times, dates and report it all. When she eventually gets a visit from the local police maybe she'll realise that her behaviour is OTT.

It comes across, Gnasher, that you think you should be praised for certain things you did, and that you were 'good' for not doing so... (ie, not complain about Ben's bites to his muzzle, getting hit during the attack etc). Maybe I have misinterpreted your posts, but that is how it reads to me.

I must have missed this, but what criminal damage and burglary from the neighbours have taken place?

Firstly trying to judge wounds on the scene. And being sure of your judgement is hard. There are times when you have to wait a while to be able to see the full extent. Examples are. Honey, when she was younger she ran into some barbed wire that had been embedded into the ground. When she did it she sounded hurt. But then carried on with her walk. I had no clue what she made a fuss of at this point. It wasn't till a few days later when I saw her licking puss that the wound was identified. As there was just no blood at the time. So we thought nowt of it. When we got her to the vets we ended up. Well I did. Having to wash out the wound twice daily with hibiscrub. I've never seen the internal autonomy of a dogs foot before. Haven't since. But as you pulled the toes apart, that's what you had to make sure was clean. The inside and outside. It was a week later. When with the cleaning and some abs we could be sure it was safe to stitch. Coz of how bad the wound was. And where it was. With regard to germs getting in, or coz the few days we didn't see it, what could be trapped in there by stitching right then. Next example was a Jack Russell. He's wirehaired. He went into the bushes. Came out shaking his head. When he got back half an hour later there was blood. He had two puncture wounds. One of which was fairly deep. Third is a Staffy type. Who got attacked by a larger dog. We saw wounds. And it took a short while for her eye to become red. When she went to the vets, they stitched up a wound none of us saw. So yes short coats can still hide injuries. And that ain't even thick short coats, like a labs. Also with the receipt, I'm looking at a receipt for my Drew. It doesn't have his name on it. Nor the vets logo. But it has my name, their address, date, receipt number, and VAT reg, all printed in normal font. Tbh I could write the same on my computer. Easily enough. But I know 100% I was given this by the vets. And I'm sure I've had at least one other like this. So it may be a photocopy. But it may be a exact copy of how they received it themselves. Who knows.

Stumpywop said it earlier in the thread..
However, Gnasher has no proof and doesn't even know herself what happened because she wasn't there and her husband only heard a bang, and they can only "believe" the object was a broom or rake handle.

Neighbour would be entirely in their rights to bang on their own fence, there's no evidence that she poked something underneath and caused any injury to Ben. If anything, Gnasher is admitting to sticking her hands under the fence, i.e. into the neighbour's property. She also says herself that the gap is so small that the dogs could not injure each other - so how could the neighbour have fitted a broom handle underneath?
I think a court would laugh any claim of criminal damage or burglary out of the window with not a scrap of evidence and the circumstances around the event.

I know that the incidents don't give her the right to harrass you but her behaviour doesn't void you of your obligation to pay the vet bills (even if it's just a moral obligation rather than a legal one, unless she takes you to court for criminal damage)

Also if two large dogs came running over to my Honey she would probably growl. It is not unusual. And is just a dog saying that they are uncomfortable, same as you would prolly be if you were restrained and two people come charging at you. The growl is normal doggy language. And if Ben used this as a thing to attack. Instead of listening and backing off a bit. Then you know that coz of his start in life that he needs extra work with other dogs. And you need to be extra careful when allowing him to greet dogs. I think a good positive trainer would be able to help you and Ben.

I assume you have informed your insurance company of this incident and they know that your dog attacked another dog as failure to do so may render any subsequent claims invalid; most insurance companies now require you to communicate any aggression issues to them.

You have frequently posted that your dog is DA thus it was entirely foreseeable that an event of this nature would occur if sufficient care was not taken, but accidents happen.

I am afraid I consider a 4ft fence with the breed of dogs you have to be entirely insufficient, again it is entirely foreseeable that with your breed, your recall issues and your DA issues that an event of this nature would occur. To say that you would never have guessed that Ben would jump out of the garden is stretching credulity a step too far.

Then, after this event you put your hands under the fence to let the neighbouring dogs to nuzzle your fingers! Why?

To berate someone for hitting your dog with a walking stick whilst theirs is under attack from yours beggars belief quite frankly.

On top of that you say your dog is not dangerous after such an incident! A dangerous dog is NOT one that ONLY bites people.

To be honest I wonder what planet you actually inhabit.

Through (the few) of your posts I have read you keep heaping blame on your neighbours and accusing them of stupidity rather than yourself.

I think the words, pot, kettle and black come to mind quite honestly.

1. We didn't berate them for beating Ben.
2. The legal definition of a dangerous dog is one who bites people.

No, not praised, but I don't know how you would respond if your dog was beaten with a walking stick on his spine so hard that there was swelling, bruising and split skin, even if it was your dog who had attacked another dog. This is a man who must weigh at least 12 stone, and he was hitting Ben repeatedly with all his strength. He would have broken the back of a smaller dog using that much force. However, we did not complain about this, of course.

Also, in the first incident, Ben received some very minor bites to his muzzle. Wouldn't even dream of mentioning it to them - I only mentioned it on this website merely to point out that I AM reasonable. I accept that these things happen with animals, and we have taken every step we possibly can to ensure that anything like this never happens again.

Ny husband did not hear a bang, he heard repeated bangs coming from their side of the fence, with her screaming "f off, f off you f'ing dog" like some old fish wife. And then started to abuse OH when he asked her to stop - using similar language, it has to be said, which I was not at all pleased about, there was no need IMO to lower himself to her level. It is her fence, she is entitled to bang on it once or twice maybe to, say, shut up a barking dog, but our dogs were doing nothing. She just could not bear to see that clearly her dogs are not afraid of Ben and Tai, and were happily socalising with them as best they could via the one inch gap under the fence. It IS assault what she did, Stumpy is quite correct.

You berated them via this thread, do you really want me to quote!

Secondly any dog/cat/human that attacks another living thing in this way IS dangerous.

The legal definition is irrelevant.

If I kill you in my car and do not get convicted of DANGEROUS driving but CARELESS driving, does that make me any LESS dangerous?