All true - hindsight is a wonderful thing. I guess it was rather presumptuous of me to assume that 15 years of no dog EVER jumping out of our garden meant that no dog ever would. I have learned now, we all learn by our mistakes. I have never had a DA dog before, but I'm learning all the time.

Why do you hate me so much If you cannot get your facts right, then please don't bother to post.

Well that shows how little you know about dogs. Depending of course on the circumstances which have led up to the growl, actually the bl was out of order growling. There was no aggression at all from my 2, all 4 dogs were greeting each other in a friendly way, good body language, all was going well in the very few seconds of this initial meeting, when the bl went and growled. Why shouldn't he, you may well ask. Well, the reason he shouldn't was because he broke the rules - he was under no threat, neither of our 2 dogs were making any aggressive noises or postures. The golden retriever was completely unmolested. Why? Because he had not growled at our 2.

It is quite clear to me Rune, because whatever you may think, one think I am not is stupid ... you dislike me ... to the point when whenever I ask for advice, or have a rant or both, you and your little cronies wade in and have a bash at Gnasher. You must think I came up with the daisies.

It's very rude, as I have already acknowledged as being undesirable. However, next door's 2 were totally happy with the situation - body language was good, good greeting rituals were being gone through, all was well. And then the BL had to go and growl. that is not good doggy behaviour, certainly amongst entire males, although in fact Ben is not entire. I am not trying to shift the blame at all. At the end of the day, the incident would not have happened had I had my dogs under control on my drive. It was my fault, mostly but not totally. However, I am shouldering the blame fairly and squarely. Very very rarely is anything clear cut and black and white in life. We filmed Hal and his son Woody once using a special camera that you can set up to automatically go click click click so that the series of photographs are virtually like a film in very slow motion. It was absolutely amazing to watch, to see what happens in a brief 5 second greeting ritual. Having watched this series of photographs you would really have thought that the 2 dogs were going to tear each other apart, but not, it is the normal boisterous greeting ritual that takes place between well balanced male dogs when they meet up after a period of time apart. A bit like lads arm wrestling, or joshing with each other, mock fighting and boxing.

Why should a wolf cross be a danger to other dogs? Usually just the opposite.

Gnasher, are you really surprised that the lady is so aggrieved when it looks like the vet bills may not actually be paid at all? That, in itself, could look as though you are unwilling to keep your word and cover costs.

The recall aspect doesn't compute. Your dogs either have excellent recall or they don't. It shouldn't matter whether you have your hands full or not. Your dogs didn't recall so therefore you cannot trust it to work.

I hate the use of obscenities - heck, I hate swearing, but far from being aggrieved by it, I would welcome her choice of words when speaking to the neighbours because if the neighbours are like me, I would be taking anything else said with a pinch of salt and trying to distance myself from her as quickly as possible.

When you own a dog aggressive dog, you really have to be one step in front and ensure that your management is as close to 100% as it can be. It looks like in retrospect you are getting there. These problems should hopefully serve to stop you becoming complacent so there are some positives.

Take away the obscenities and I would very likely react the same way as your neighbours. I would be terrified of your dogs and that would make my life extremely uncomfortable when knowing that I had to cross your drive for access.

Your neighbours carry no blame whatsoever for the incidents that occurred. Hopefully, in time, if you show you can control your dogs and are taking every possible precaution, maybe tentative relations can be restored, but if your neighbour is anything like me, it will take an awful long time to build up trust.

In your shoes, I'd make sure that the vet bills were met in full regardless of whether or not the insurers pay out. I would do as you have done and apologise profusely then I'd keep my head down, show that I can control my dogs and make sure that there is no possible way that another attack can happen

How would people know that unless they were savvy on such things. Most people would be a little apprehensive if they were told the dog in front of them is a wolf cross. Just because you think different doesn't mean others think the same as you.

Would you write a cheque out to someone on the basis of a handful of photocopies? And not even photocopies of anything printed on any sort of letterhead. We have written to them ourselves requesting the original invoice and visa slips etc., but they haven't bothered to reply. It is now in the hands of the insurance company - to whom they have not replied either. What do you expect me to do?

My dogs have excellent recall. However, the incident on the drive - I hadn't called them. Why? Because I hadn't seen this woman - she would have seen us, but as I have said before it was dusk and we just did not see her because she was partially hidden by a tree overhanging the drive. Had I seen she was there, I would have immediately whistled them up, dropped the cans and grabbed them.

I agree with the rest you say ... but sorry, I am not rich, neither am I a fool. I won't pay what clearly to me are photocopies of photocopies, would you? We have asked them to supply the ORIGINALS to us, with no response. We would of course give them back. The insurance company have asked TWICE, no response. I do not have "rich mug" stamped across my forehead.

True, but who said that have or have not told them what type my dogs are

TBH if they don't carry white sticks they wouldn't believe it even if they have been told it.

They don't need to think the dog is a wolf to know it is aggressive---they have a vets bill to prove it.

rune