Dog Owner Has Liability Concerns Over Pet Trespassing Property With Broken Fence And Biting Neighbor's Dog

Most dog lovers say that the owner of the trespassing pet will be liable.

May

• Published in Interesting
• February 27, 2024

If a neighbor's dog gets loose and bites someone, it can create a complex legal situation about who's responsible. If you're the one bitten, you might be unsure about who should be held accountable for your injuries. Here are a few potential parties:

First, there's the dog owner. Usually, they're the ones primarily responsible for their dog's actions.

It's their duty to keep their pet under control and prevent incidents like this. If their negligence led to your injury, you may be able to seek compensation from them to cover your medical bills, lost income, and other damages.

Then, there's the property owner. If the bite happened on their property and they didn't take reasonable steps to prevent it, they might share some liability.

For instance, if a landlord neglects to fix a broken fence that allowed the dog to escape, they could be partially responsible. Still, the main responsibility lies with the dog owner.

Lastly, there are government entities. Sometimes, they're responsible for maintaining barriers that could have stopped the dog from getting out.

If they knew about a problem and didn't fix it, they could share liability with the dog owner. To sum up, while the dog owner is usually the main party at fault, others might also be responsible if their negligence played a role in the incident.

Today's post features an online discussion about who's liable. Let's take a look at some of the answers from Quora with this question:

If my neighbor’s fence is broken and our dog gets into their yard and bites their dog, who is liable?

The dog owner will always be liable.

I believe the dog owner is required to control their dog at all times. The neighbor is not required to have a fence.

The owner whose pet bit another dog has to cover the medical expenses.

This is just an opinion, not legal advice. I’m assuming this is not a shared fence, where you and your neighbour would equally be responsible for repairing the fence.

However, you knew the fence was broken and did not take measures to keep your dog on your own property. You could have put him on a long lead that allowed him to wander around, but not get to the fence line.

You didn’t do that. The result was the dog ended up on your neighbour’s property and bit their dog.

I believe you are liable for the vet bills.

We had a similar issue with a shared fence and my neighbour and I both had dogs. We just put them on long leads until we built a new fence. A logical solution to keep the dogs apart.

Owners need to learn how to restrain their dog.

You are responsible to restrain and control your animal to your property, and you are liable if anything happens with it. Period.

How you do that is up to you.

You can install a fence perhaps, or chain it to a limit.

You can’t rely on a neighbors fence, ultimately. You must have control over your animal.

To be safe, the owner also needs to fix their own yard to ensure that their dog never escapes.

You would be for not fixing your side, so your dog could not get through, then notify them of the problem with their fence. I made sure to always inspect my fence, so my dogs could not get out and harm anyone else’s animals.

MAKE sure your dog is always secure and protected!

The reason I would tell your neighbors their fence was broken would be to make them aware their dog could get out and get hit by a car or harmed by someone else’s dog.

Damages caused by the dog will be covered by its owner.

You are. Control your dog.

If you know your dog is getting out, regardless of if it’s biting or not, you are responsible for containing your dog.

And if your dog attacks another person or animal, you’re liable for any and all damages.

You clearly know the fence is damaged, so either fix it yourself, or keep your dog on a leash so it can’t get in your neighbor’s yard.

The owner failing to control their dog makes them liable.

You are, of course. You did not control your dog, and instead allowed it to enter the neighbors’ yard and attack their dog who was where he was supposed to be, in his own yard.

Your dog was NOT where HE was supposed to be, and since he is just a dog, owned by you, you are completely and entirely responsible for every single thing that he does. If you cannot control your dog then you should not have a dog.

Most localities consider the owner responsible for the dog attack.

You are the one who lost control of your dog. He went onto another property to attack.

In most localities you would be considered responsible for having an aggressive uncontrolled animal.

It's not about the neighbor having a broken fence, but all about the owner not being able to control their dog.

You are. In every municipal jurisdiction I am aware of, the owner of a dog is responsible for keeping their dog under control.

Regardless of whether your neighbor’s fence is broken or not, or whether they even have a fence, if you fail to prevent your dog from entering their property and causing damage, then you are liable for that damage.

Even if the neighbor's fence is broken, pet owners need to recognize that they will be the ones covering the bills involved in the incident.

To avoid these liabilities, it's better to install a fence that will keep the dogs within the property rather than wait for your neighbor to fix it.

May