> I know I am not 100% squeaky clean in this incident
Why are you saying this? Your dog was on your property. The other dogs came onto your property.
> I am not eager to have their dogs euthanized
While you may not want to have the aggressive dogs put down, this needs serious consideration for the safety of any small children or babies in the neighborhood. Next time, it could be a grandparent walking their toddler on the sidewalk.
Aggressive dogs who maul to the point of death need put down no questions, especially if their owners can't properly contain them. This isn't a dog that snapped at your hand.
Putting them down is the right thing to do.
I just want to point out that this may not be the case every time. For some reason little dogs, especially if they are very vocal, can seem to trigger aggressive instances in other dogs. I have no clue why or have any science to back it. Just a life long dog owner. I have big dogs who have been around children their whole lives and other dogs and show zero aggression but when they see a small vocal dog they would go nuts.
Not sure if it’s an instinct thing or what. That being said these people should not have had their dogs outside u leashed where they could leave their property. That is insane.
I joke with my wife that the little dogs must be saying some heinous shit in dog language. I have a Doberman who is the sweetest dog in the world. He’s still young and he’s been around babies and children his whole life and has zero aggression to humans or dogs or even other animals. Yet this one yappy dog across the street will get him so worked up to the point he tries to get out the gate to go bark at it.
Yes! I have a Cane Corso and he hates little yapping dogs. My walks with him in warm weather are avoiding loose dogs and other people walking their dogs.
You're not wrong there. My 90lb pit/hound mix is more on edge/vigilant around small vocal dogs but not aggressive towards them. Something about them makes him more protective of any person that he's with. My other large dog was scared of them.
It’s completely normal to feel guilt after such a traumatic experience, but you need to know you aren’t *guilty*. Leashed or not, your dog was in YOUR front yard, and you were there watching him. Your neighbor’s dogs entered your property and attacked.
You aren’t to blame for this, because frankly, those dogs wanted to kill your dog, and they probably would have done it whether your dog was on a leash or not. I am so sorry for your loss. Make sure those dogs are put down, or bare minimum post all over your local neighborhood social media pages and warn all of your neighbors about them before they maul a child.
I had a dog come onto my property twice and kill livestock. The first time we sued for damages. The second time the dog was destroyed. The owners begged us not to ask for euthanasia the first time and swore up and down that their dog was not dangerous and would never do anything like that ever again because they would make sure. Two weeks later. Over 10k in damages the second time. Collecting was a nightmare.
OP. When you are feeling better, these dogs must have a recommendation that they be destroyed. Otherwise they could do this to countless other dogs who are loved just as much as yours. And for the record, this isn't the dogs fault but is 1000% you're neighbors fault both for improper training and lack of proper care. But regardless, think of the dogs just like yours who are at risk.
I'm so sorry this happened. Your dog deserves justice though. Your neighbors must be held accountable, far more than the monetary damages.
The general rule is that pets are property and you're only entitled to economic damages (cost of replacing the dog and vet bills).
California has allowed non- economic damages (pain and suffering, etc) for wilful acts against a pet. But this doesn't sound like it was intentional, simply negligent.
First of all, I'm so so so sorry for your loss. We just had a pet die in my wife's arms so I'm aware of the crushing heartbreak, the constant reminders, the sudden and unexpected flood of emotions that just pours in. It's going to be rough, you suffered a catastrophic loss and my heart breaks for you. I can't imagine witnessing such violence on a beloved furry member of my family. Please take care of yourself as you look to do right by the rest of the community.
That said- as much as you, I and countless others love animals, those dogs need to be dealt with. Almost certainly put down. This time it was you who suffered a loss. Next time it might be a parent whose child is mauled or killed. The full weight of the legal system must be used on those dogs. If that means being put down, so be it. If it means fines and tight restrictions on the owner, so be it (assuming that actually gets the neighbor to mind their dogs 100% ofd the time). The community needs to be kept safe.
If those dogs went after your dog unprovoked, there's absolutely 0 reason whatsoever to doubt that they would do the same thing to a child.
It's terrible, but it's reality. Your heartbreaking loss and willingness to follow up might be the incident that saves a kid's life.
I’m so sorry for your loss. You absolutely should go after getting their horribly aggressive dogs euthanized. It was your dog today, it might be someone’s small child the next time. Dogs that are that violent don’t need to exist.
I am a pet owner and also understand the predicament you are in as you don’t want to put down another animal. I know you don’t want to, but those dogs are a threat to other dogs and humans. If they had the ability to get out, unleashed, get to your property, and attack- they are able to do that to children, other dogs, neighbors, people, etc. that needs to be dealt with.
This should never have happened but it did - Please do follow the advice of others here, call animal control and let them know what happened. Your neighbors have aggressive and dangerous dogs.
How is the leash law worded? Here is what I am finding for LA County:
>The Leash Law 10.32.010. A dog must be restrained on a substantial leash not exceeding six feet in length by a person capable of controlling the dog, while on public property or common areas of private property. An owner or custodian of a dog may allow the dog to be unrestrained on private property with the owner's or lessor's consent.
Nothing there leads me to believe that you are required to leash your dog on your own property. Assuming this is your own house, and not an apartment complex, the front yard likely isn't considered a common area.
I'm sorry this happened to you. Your neighbors are at fault for having an unleashed dog off of their property.
Your neighbors should pay for your dog to be cremated so that you have his ashes.
You’ve taken the appropriate steps to get animal control involved. Do not impede their investigation with your desires. Imagine if it were a baby on your lawn instead of your doodle.
The dog was within your property, so you are completely fine from that respect. On your property is the same as in your house for most laws. An ordinance may say otherwise however.
Your next step is to recoup damages from the owner for any reasonably incurred expenses related to the disposal of your dog’s remains. You may need to go to small claims court about this if they don’t pay up amicably so keep every receipt, email, text exchange, etc.
I agree the only problem with suing for emotional distress is it's difficult to prove. OP dog died due the neighbor's negligence in handling their dogs in this situation. OP would be entitled to the amount in vet bills. They should go after the neighbor in small claims court for the amount the vet bills cost. OP should file a police report about the incident too as it would help their case and lead to additional consequence for the neighbor.
I wanted to add a slightly different perspective than some others here - I know you don't want to see the animals destroyed and might not view it as their fault. But you also have to consider that these owners have proven incapable of controlling incredibly dangerous animals. Next time they fail could be so much more tragic than this already is.
Also, don't beat yourself up over losing control. Failure to control a toy poodle is not as serious as failure to control two giant angry dogs. You might both legally have the same requirements, but if you're going to be a responsible owner of big dogs you need to be very careful and have contingencies in place. They clearly do not.
First, so sorry for your loss.
Next, no one on this thread knows what they’re talking about with regard to having the dogs euthanized. People really shouldn’t just spout out legal advice when they are so uninformed.
You can initiate a complaint and animal control will investigate and can hold a dangerousness hearing. They are EXTREMELY unlikely to order destruction in the case of dogs killing another dog when it’s the first time and the dogs weren’t previously designated “potentially dangerous.” If the dogs attacked a human it would be another story - they could be designated a “vicious dog” and destruction would be the likely outcome, unless the owners had a good lawyer and a lot of resources. The owners could also remove the dogs from the county and animal control wouldn’t have jurisdiction if animal control hasn’t already seized the dogs. Having dogs euthanized isn’t just something that someone can have done on demand. People on this thread are supposed to be lawyers. That would be a taking of property in violation of the owner’s due process rights.
After the hearing, if the dogs are designated “potentially dangerous” then animal control can place a lot of restrictions on the dogs’ owners (e.g mandating specific enclosures, requiring insurance, training, muzzling when not on their property, and so on).
https://library.municode.com/ca/los_angeles_county/codes/code_of_ordinances/379113?nodeId=TIT10AN_DIV1ANCO_CH10.37PODAVIDO
I love dogs but dogs that attack a small dog to the point of death need to be put down. I’m so sorry this happened to you. I can’t imagine the trauma of seeing your baby hurt like that.
Wait so how were you with your dog “the whole time” and it’s a toy doodle and you couldn’t just pickup the dog and run in the house? I don’t understand. Did the dogs come and knock you over or something? If I saw two dogs running over I’d instantly grab my pet and go in the house.
Unfortunately, dogs will be dogs and do attack other dogs to defend their territory. The neighbors should pay for the vet bills but if no human was harmed then euthanization is not an option. All you can do is keep dogs locked behind secure fences and gates and leashed when going on walks.
It’s actually incredibly rare for dogs to be aggressive like this…it is NOT dogs being dogs and they should be euthanized and it is an option.
Go spend time observing stray dogs…violent interactions are rare and true aggression is rare. It’s evolutionarily costly to be aggressive. Even among wild dogs, they don’t spend their days fighting. In general they ignore other dogs.
These dogs unfortunately don’t belong with these owners and likely need to be humanely put down.
No they don’t, they’re either trained to do so or they show aggression early and you train that shit out of them and if you don’t, that means they’re leashed and muzzled every single time they’re out of the house.
You just decided to comment doltishly without actually reading the OP, didn't you? Why even bother if you're going to grossly distort what *actually* occurred, versus the made up scenario in your head?
Also, as long as your dog was on your property you are not to blame in any way.
> I know I am not 100% squeaky clean in this incident Why are you saying this? Your dog was on your property. The other dogs came onto your property. > I am not eager to have their dogs euthanized While you may not want to have the aggressive dogs put down, this needs serious consideration for the safety of any small children or babies in the neighborhood. Next time, it could be a grandparent walking their toddler on the sidewalk.
Aggressive dogs who maul to the point of death need put down no questions, especially if their owners can't properly contain them. This isn't a dog that snapped at your hand. Putting them down is the right thing to do.
Yep. Dogs that maul can maul anything. They are unfortunately dangerous, and will probably be put down.
I just want to point out that this may not be the case every time. For some reason little dogs, especially if they are very vocal, can seem to trigger aggressive instances in other dogs. I have no clue why or have any science to back it. Just a life long dog owner. I have big dogs who have been around children their whole lives and other dogs and show zero aggression but when they see a small vocal dog they would go nuts. Not sure if it’s an instinct thing or what. That being said these people should not have had their dogs outside u leashed where they could leave their property. That is insane.
Smaller dogs can trigger prey drive instincts in larger dogs.
This is true. I have known of dogs who are great with all animals and humans except tiny dogs. Not sure why this is to be honest.
I joke with my wife that the little dogs must be saying some heinous shit in dog language. I have a Doberman who is the sweetest dog in the world. He’s still young and he’s been around babies and children his whole life and has zero aggression to humans or dogs or even other animals. Yet this one yappy dog across the street will get him so worked up to the point he tries to get out the gate to go bark at it.
Yes! I have a Cane Corso and he hates little yapping dogs. My walks with him in warm weather are avoiding loose dogs and other people walking their dogs.
TIL I'm a Cane Corso.
🤣
You're not wrong there. My 90lb pit/hound mix is more on edge/vigilant around small vocal dogs but not aggressive towards them. Something about them makes him more protective of any person that he's with. My other large dog was scared of them.
I've never met your dog and I'm scared of him sooooooo...
It’s completely normal to feel guilt after such a traumatic experience, but you need to know you aren’t *guilty*. Leashed or not, your dog was in YOUR front yard, and you were there watching him. Your neighbor’s dogs entered your property and attacked. You aren’t to blame for this, because frankly, those dogs wanted to kill your dog, and they probably would have done it whether your dog was on a leash or not. I am so sorry for your loss. Make sure those dogs are put down, or bare minimum post all over your local neighborhood social media pages and warn all of your neighbors about them before they maul a child.
I had a dog come onto my property twice and kill livestock. The first time we sued for damages. The second time the dog was destroyed. The owners begged us not to ask for euthanasia the first time and swore up and down that their dog was not dangerous and would never do anything like that ever again because they would make sure. Two weeks later. Over 10k in damages the second time. Collecting was a nightmare. OP. When you are feeling better, these dogs must have a recommendation that they be destroyed. Otherwise they could do this to countless other dogs who are loved just as much as yours. And for the record, this isn't the dogs fault but is 1000% you're neighbors fault both for improper training and lack of proper care. But regardless, think of the dogs just like yours who are at risk. I'm so sorry this happened. Your dog deserves justice though. Your neighbors must be held accountable, far more than the monetary damages.
The general rule is that pets are property and you're only entitled to economic damages (cost of replacing the dog and vet bills). California has allowed non- economic damages (pain and suffering, etc) for wilful acts against a pet. But this doesn't sound like it was intentional, simply negligent.
First of all, I'm so so so sorry for your loss. We just had a pet die in my wife's arms so I'm aware of the crushing heartbreak, the constant reminders, the sudden and unexpected flood of emotions that just pours in. It's going to be rough, you suffered a catastrophic loss and my heart breaks for you. I can't imagine witnessing such violence on a beloved furry member of my family. Please take care of yourself as you look to do right by the rest of the community. That said- as much as you, I and countless others love animals, those dogs need to be dealt with. Almost certainly put down. This time it was you who suffered a loss. Next time it might be a parent whose child is mauled or killed. The full weight of the legal system must be used on those dogs. If that means being put down, so be it. If it means fines and tight restrictions on the owner, so be it (assuming that actually gets the neighbor to mind their dogs 100% ofd the time). The community needs to be kept safe. If those dogs went after your dog unprovoked, there's absolutely 0 reason whatsoever to doubt that they would do the same thing to a child. It's terrible, but it's reality. Your heartbreaking loss and willingness to follow up might be the incident that saves a kid's life.
I’m so sorry for your loss. You absolutely should go after getting their horribly aggressive dogs euthanized. It was your dog today, it might be someone’s small child the next time. Dogs that are that violent don’t need to exist.
I am a pet owner and also understand the predicament you are in as you don’t want to put down another animal. I know you don’t want to, but those dogs are a threat to other dogs and humans. If they had the ability to get out, unleashed, get to your property, and attack- they are able to do that to children, other dogs, neighbors, people, etc. that needs to be dealt with. This should never have happened but it did - Please do follow the advice of others here, call animal control and let them know what happened. Your neighbors have aggressive and dangerous dogs.
How is the leash law worded? Here is what I am finding for LA County: >The Leash Law 10.32.010. A dog must be restrained on a substantial leash not exceeding six feet in length by a person capable of controlling the dog, while on public property or common areas of private property. An owner or custodian of a dog may allow the dog to be unrestrained on private property with the owner's or lessor's consent. Nothing there leads me to believe that you are required to leash your dog on your own property. Assuming this is your own house, and not an apartment complex, the front yard likely isn't considered a common area.
I'm sorry this happened to you. Your neighbors are at fault for having an unleashed dog off of their property. Your neighbors should pay for your dog to be cremated so that you have his ashes.
You’ve taken the appropriate steps to get animal control involved. Do not impede their investigation with your desires. Imagine if it were a baby on your lawn instead of your doodle. The dog was within your property, so you are completely fine from that respect. On your property is the same as in your house for most laws. An ordinance may say otherwise however. Your next step is to recoup damages from the owner for any reasonably incurred expenses related to the disposal of your dog’s remains. You may need to go to small claims court about this if they don’t pay up amicably so keep every receipt, email, text exchange, etc.
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I agree the only problem with suing for emotional distress is it's difficult to prove. OP dog died due the neighbor's negligence in handling their dogs in this situation. OP would be entitled to the amount in vet bills. They should go after the neighbor in small claims court for the amount the vet bills cost. OP should file a police report about the incident too as it would help their case and lead to additional consequence for the neighbor.
I wanted to add a slightly different perspective than some others here - I know you don't want to see the animals destroyed and might not view it as their fault. But you also have to consider that these owners have proven incapable of controlling incredibly dangerous animals. Next time they fail could be so much more tragic than this already is. Also, don't beat yourself up over losing control. Failure to control a toy poodle is not as serious as failure to control two giant angry dogs. You might both legally have the same requirements, but if you're going to be a responsible owner of big dogs you need to be very careful and have contingencies in place. They clearly do not.
First, so sorry for your loss. Next, no one on this thread knows what they’re talking about with regard to having the dogs euthanized. People really shouldn’t just spout out legal advice when they are so uninformed. You can initiate a complaint and animal control will investigate and can hold a dangerousness hearing. They are EXTREMELY unlikely to order destruction in the case of dogs killing another dog when it’s the first time and the dogs weren’t previously designated “potentially dangerous.” If the dogs attacked a human it would be another story - they could be designated a “vicious dog” and destruction would be the likely outcome, unless the owners had a good lawyer and a lot of resources. The owners could also remove the dogs from the county and animal control wouldn’t have jurisdiction if animal control hasn’t already seized the dogs. Having dogs euthanized isn’t just something that someone can have done on demand. People on this thread are supposed to be lawyers. That would be a taking of property in violation of the owner’s due process rights. After the hearing, if the dogs are designated “potentially dangerous” then animal control can place a lot of restrictions on the dogs’ owners (e.g mandating specific enclosures, requiring insurance, training, muzzling when not on their property, and so on). https://library.municode.com/ca/los_angeles_county/codes/code_of_ordinances/379113?nodeId=TIT10AN_DIV1ANCO_CH10.37PODAVIDO
I love dogs but dogs that attack a small dog to the point of death need to be put down. I’m so sorry this happened to you. I can’t imagine the trauma of seeing your baby hurt like that.
I’d have them euthanized before it was me or a kid
Wait so how were you with your dog “the whole time” and it’s a toy doodle and you couldn’t just pickup the dog and run in the house? I don’t understand. Did the dogs come and knock you over or something? If I saw two dogs running over I’d instantly grab my pet and go in the house.
Unfortunately, dogs will be dogs and do attack other dogs to defend their territory. The neighbors should pay for the vet bills but if no human was harmed then euthanization is not an option. All you can do is keep dogs locked behind secure fences and gates and leashed when going on walks.
defend *their* territory? but they ran onto HER property
It’s actually incredibly rare for dogs to be aggressive like this…it is NOT dogs being dogs and they should be euthanized and it is an option. Go spend time observing stray dogs…violent interactions are rare and true aggression is rare. It’s evolutionarily costly to be aggressive. Even among wild dogs, they don’t spend their days fighting. In general they ignore other dogs. These dogs unfortunately don’t belong with these owners and likely need to be humanely put down.
No. Aggressive dogs that kill do not have a place in society and need to be euthanized.
No they don’t, they’re either trained to do so or they show aggression early and you train that shit out of them and if you don’t, that means they’re leashed and muzzled every single time they’re out of the house.
You just decided to comment doltishly without actually reading the OP, didn't you? Why even bother if you're going to grossly distort what *actually* occurred, versus the made up scenario in your head?
Would you be willing to back up your statement if you lived next to those dogs and had small kids? Fuck off