I think what Gnasher wanted when she came on here was to share, with other dog owners, her frustration at the situation. She totally accepts it was her fault, her OH physically intervened, they have apologised, they have paid for the vets treatment and enhanced the fencing so that the same cannot happen again. It seems as though Gnasher is trying to find a solution so that months down the line she is not still having obscenities hurled at her and her dog being walloped with a broom under the fence.

Sorry to be argumentative, but she doesn't 'totally accept it was her fault'. She has stated a few times that the other owner is to blame for not checking first, not announcing her presence before walking onto the drive, not staying in the house until Ben had gone because she 'knew' he was DA. OP is clearly only taking some of the responsibility for what happened and seeking to lay some of the blame on her neighbour, and this is the sort of attitude that is easy to read in real life and I imagine has had some impact on the way the neighbour is reacting.

I think perhaps that some of the problem may be that Gnasher also accepted full responsibility after the first attack and yet a second occurred. I know I would probably have accepted that 'accidents happen' once, twice I really wouldn't.

I wonder, did the neighbour still remain on reasonably friendly terms after the first incident, or was she on the warpath from first attack?

I believe she posted for sympathy----I have none.

If I had an open drive with someone else allowed access no way would my dogs be on it unless they were on lead. It is easy enough to leave leads on in the car---I do with Benj anyway and always get him out on lead even in our very private drive---just in case there might be cats around or a gate open.

My sympathy is with the neighbour and her dog which has been attacked twice.

rune

To be fair the first incident (according to the OP) was just a handbags at dawn incident where no damage occurred. I'm not sure you can consider that type of incident to be an attack, more a 'war of words'. These can be scary I know but it happens.

Obviously the second incident was inexcusable.

Lack of commonsense on the neighbours part. I wouldnt give a crap if I turned up at my house and Ben was sat in my front room having a cup of tea la de dah uninvited I still wouldnt walk in with my boy (i have every right to come in and go freakin skitso its my house right?) and put my boy in harms way.

Forget the neighbours am sure you have more than enough people to hang out with.

Change the things you can, accept the things you cant and have the wisdom to know the difference.

N On the insurance front, (i know it does in mine) do you have to report the incident to them? Dont know whether people ever do but it could invalidate your cover?

Sorry Gnasher - I wasn't getting at you, I was just responding.

At the end of the day, you were in the wrong and you've taken responsibility, accepted it and you are dealing with it.

I often think owners make things a lot worse for their dogs by the way they react - just as parents do with their kids.

The main reason when Takara was badly attacked that I didn't make a big deal of it was because I was concerned about MY dog. It wasn't a lack of care on my part, once the dog had been removed from Takara's neck, I made a point of walking back to the car WITH the other dog and owners and laughing and making jokes.

Takara walked along next to the naughty border collie who looked a little sheepish but didn't react at her again and the two of them were fine together. She's a nervous dog and if I'd have gone off alarming and checking her over etc. she'd have been far more upset by it.

As for your comments about them walking across your drive which have been attacked, I do totally understand what you're saying.

LEGALLY, they have every right to cross your drive and not be attacked whether your dogs are running around or not. LEGALLY, they should not have to wait for you to get your dogs but why is that all that matters??

If I'm driving down the road and a stupid student (of which there are many around here) steps out in front of me they know that I have to do all I can to avoid hitting them so they're safe. LEGALLY if I hit them, it'd be my fault - even though it's a lack of care on their part.
But that doesn't mean it's right!

If I'm walking my dogs and I come across a dog that is not friendly, they go on leads or called right away from that dog. If the dog is off the lead, we turn around and walk in the other direction to keep a distance until the other dog has been put on the lead.
I have every right to walk straight past but WHY?! Why would I want to risk my dogs being attacked just because I'd be in the right because my dogs were under control?!

I don't understand people who will put themselves, their kids or their dogs at risk because they have a legal right to do so.

No it's not ideal - your neighbour should be able to walk across you drive without having to call out or wait, but life isn't always ideal and it's caused a lot more problems by not doing so.

Perhaps your neighbour should consider that next time she wants to get to the other side of the road she doesn't need to wait for the car that's driving by above the speed limit because LEGALLY she has every right to cross and if she does end up in a coma or with two broken legs, it doesn't matter because she was in the right - legally.

Are you sure she saw your dogs? Are you sure that she didn't assume they were on lead?

I know when I come home, I'm often distracted - talking to my dog, taking to my hubby, hustling and bustling to find keys etc.

Could it be that she is so angry because she wasn't aware of your dogs and now feels (somewhat rightly) aggrieved that her dog has suffered as she was returning home?

Could it be that the 'small' wound was actually bigger than you thought - perhaps wide enough so that normal stitching won't pull the sides together? Could it be that she is unhappy at having to fork out cash now and wait for your insurance to cough up the cash - all the while unsure that the claim will be met in full.

There are often things going on of which we are unaware. It just seems a little strange that you had such a strong relationship before the incidents and it's all fallen apart so dramatically.

just pondering upon the wisdom of allowing a DA dog offlead, where there is the possiblility of bumping into other dogs (while being unable to physically control) said dog.

Plus, if a dog who had previously been aggressive towards my dogs, then aggressively approached mine, then I would use whatever was necessary to defend my dog.

Handbags at dawn may not result in physical injury but what about mental distress and the potential for it to cause reactivity/aggression issues in the attacked dog? Casper has never given me cause to think he would actually harm a dog but I would never forgive myself for a 'handbags at dawn' scrap either. He was the victim of one the other month, the Jack Russel was hardly likely to inflict any harm but Casper was completely terrified by it.