I've said it before but hasn't he already been attacked once by Ben? No wonder he growled. Dogs are much more adept at reading their body language than we are, he probably sensed a threat from Ben or remembered the past altercation. Wagging tails does not necessarily mean friendliness and like Karly said 'dashing' up to two dogs just as they leave their property is not friendly behaviour. In terms of behaviour, a growl is actually quite polite. The other dog was probably giving off a load of calming signals which your dogs ignored as they raced up to them so he likely felt he had no choice but to growl.

but you watched all the body language so you obviously saw them running over to the lady's dogs? Any time during that run, or during the initial greeting you could have called and had your dogs return to you if you truly had as good a recall as you think you have.

On the vet bill front, yes, I'd want to see the originals, but I'd arrange to go over and see them at her house because I can well understand why she wouldn't want them out of her possession. If the insurers asked for them, personally I would send the copies and ask that they ring the vets to confirm the amounts shown.

Initially, my thoughts were that they may be fiddling the amounts, but then you said that there were many vet visits so probably not

Well you certainly tried to get us on the forum to believe that Ben is a wolfcross so I can't imagine you saying different to your neighbour. Although most on here do not believe he is a wolfcross maybe your neighbour does believe you.

NOOOOOOO!! The drive incident was the first occasion. There had never been any aggression between this dog and Ben before, so there was no reason for him to growl. I'm not blaming him, I'm just saying it was unnecessary. Wagging tails certainly do not always mean friendliness. There are different types of wags if you film in slow motion.

Look, that has nothing to do with the title of this thread. Please don't get it locked by going off the topic. I am gaining a lot of help from people who truly want to help me, and not just jump onto the Gnasher Basher Bandwagon.

I say, I rather like that - great illiteration!!

Oh right sorry getting mixed up! I thought the incident where her other half had to beat Ben off him was the first instance. Not been keeping up very well obviously woops. Still a growl is actually relatively polite

I think that there are three sides to every story and as such, since none of us were there we can't really know exactly what went on.

If it were me I'd pay the vet bills and get on with my life.

The neighbour's dog could be the most vicious dog you've ever met, it could be worse than Ben, but it was on lead with its owner in a place that it was legally allowed to be. Your dogs may have run up and been polite initially but Ben was the one who approached an on-lead dog and attacked it.
As far as dog communication goes, growls are normally controlled warnings and it was totally over the top for Ben to take this as a cue to attack. As others have said, there may have been body language that Ben ignored beforehand - he is known for being a DA dog for years, I don't see how you can blame the neighbour's dog at all.

The running took less than 2 seconds, probably less than that. To be honest, she made be jump coming out of the gloaming like that. It was getting dusk, and I was not concentrating, I was partly joshing around with the dogs who were louting around boxing each other in their usual way, and partly trying to usher them into the house, with my arms full. All very bad I know, but as these things always do happen in such a way, it all happened very quickly.

The insurers won't contact the vet until they have a response from next door. They have told us that. They have told my husband that there is nothing they can do until they (the neighbours) respond. Remember this is not dog insurance, it is our house insurance that we are covered by.

What do you think will happen to me if I go round, bang on their door and ask if I can come in to see the originals? Do you think there is just a slight chance that once again I will told to f off, and that I am a f'ing c you next Tuesday? Would you like to do that?

Sorry to have a go at you, I don't mean to be aggressive, but I don't think you quite realise how upsetting it is to be told that you are f'ing arrogant when you have plucked the courage to ring up and enquire how a dog who you extremely fond of is doing, following his "emergency" visit to the vet?

I am just trying to think of a reason where this once friendly neighbour has really become so very annoyed with you. That is of course besides her dog being attacked not once but twice. Which would of course make most people very upset. So I thought it was on topic, oh silly me.