Can I take legal action? Dog related trigger warning

[Ellythe]

My dog is my baby. I got her 3 years before my child died and she helped me through it all and she knew him.

I am currently in the USA, waiting for a plane home 8 days earlier than planned because I got a call from the woman looking after my dog saying that her Mastiff has mauled my dog and she has lost a leg and an eye in the fight. I've seen the cctv footage and my dog walked near her dog and he lunged at her and then attacked her.

Shockingly the boarder doesn't notice the interaction between the dogs until her neighbour comes running into her house shouting because she can hear my dog yelping and screaming. At the time of the fight the person I paid to look after my dog was grooming another dog and in a completely separate area of the unit. The other person insured to look after the dogs was out at the shop and so there were 5 day care dogs and 4 home boarding dogs + her own 3 dogs.

What is my legal recourse?

I want her to pay for my dog's treatment, the flights etc.

I would never have let her look after my dog if I realised she wasn't in the same area as the dogs. I didn't realise that dogs were being left completely unattended for up to 6 hours whilst she's grooming.

For the avoidance of doubt my dog didn't do anything to cause her dog to attack her, she merely walked passed him and he just went for her.

She is 6 years old and I cannot lose her. She is the last connection I have to my child. I'm beside myself right now. This is hideous.

I need to know what to do next. Do I report to the council? The rspca? The police? I want to take any and all action I can.

Poor Rosie, I hope she will be ok:

Best Wishes OP

I'm so sorry and really hope your beloved Rosie pulls through. I'm not an expert and not normally a seek compensation type of person, but I would 100% take legal advice and take full action against the boarder. I'm not a dog expert, but own a couple of dogs and know leaving two dogs together unattended isn't something you should do. I find it shocking a professional would think this was ok.

You need to check the terms and conditions of the boarder, but it does sound as if you would have a good cause of action as it is fundamental to the contract that they were supposed to keep your dog safe. But you need to consult a lawyer with experience in this area.

I don’t know anything about the legal side but I just wanted to send you some love as this sound horrific. Really hope the infection clears soon and Rosie can be home with you.

I would be looking at taking every legal avenue possible so she can never look after other peoples dogs again,

I am so sorry this happened to you and Rosie, and sorry for the loss of your child. I'm glad Rosie was happy to see mum and will hopefully be home with you soon.

Definitely go after the boarder with everything you can. They need paying for everything and shutting down.

Oh you’ve had a terrible loss and now this horrible trauma. I’m so sorry for you and I hope Rosie recovers well.

Don’t know if this is useful at all but my pet insurance policy pays out a certain amount if my dog causes third party damage - never claimed on it, but thought I’d mention in case the dog minder has her mastiff insured.

@Ellythe sorry but is this someone offering home boarding or a boarding kennel??? boarding kennels should never allow the dogs to be be together! they all have to be insured and licensed with the local council who will check the facilities for hygiene and suitability for all dogs to be looked after properly.

Gosh how awful for you. My dog was attacked recently and it was horrendous so you have my sympathy.

I reported it to the police but they didn't care and while I didn't want the money (over £1k for the vet all in, I would have donated it to charity) I did want the dog in question muzzled out in public. No idea if this happened or not as I didn't know the owner just put posters up to warn other people

Really hope you get her home safe and well soon.

I'm so sorry this has happened to your poor girl OP, I would be doing exactly as you are and pursuing every avenue for compensation and prosecution possible. This should never have happened and wouldn't have if the proper rules and procedures had been followed so the boarder deserves everything that's coming now. I hope Rosie is home soon and you can both start to heal from what you've been through

I think dogs are so much safer in kennels than other homes . You have no idea what dogs will be there and how they will react to dogs coming and going and changing ..

So sad for you though .. I hope she is ok 🙏

Your poor dog, I hope she’s ok

@Ellythe im glad you've been able to see her & she's now eaten. How far away from your home is it? Will you be able to visit daily?

where is the infection? How long do they think it will take to go, so you can take her home?

could you share a (before you went away) photo?

I hope you get some sleep tonight now you've seen her & had a cuddle xx

Your poor dog, absolutely report to the police and the council. Wishing her a speedy recovery- might be better to post over on legal?

I'm so sorry to hear about this OP and I'm glad you've seen her and got her to eat. I hope the licensing officer can give you some good guidance and I hope they strip this charlatan of a home boarder of her licence. You need to demand her insurance details and get in touch with them either directly or via your own insurance if you have it. I don't know if you're interested but the home boarding regulations can be found at Home boarding for dogs licensing: statutory guidance for local authorities - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The bit you said about them being left of 6 hours+ is completely in breach of 5.9:
"Dogs must have human company. They must not be routinely left alone for more than 3 hours in a 24 hour period, or shorter intervals as necessary for the individual health, safety and welfare of an individual dog. All dogs should be observed by trained and competent staff."
The neighbour's 12 year old kid absolutely cannot be in charge of the dogs, they must be 16 as a minimum, but anyone involved must be suitably trained and competent.
Up to £10,000, you can take this to the small claims court as well but I would go for her insurance first.
Wishing Rosie a speedy recovery. Poor little mite!

It's a home boarder responsible for this.

Thankfully the hospital is about 20 mins away from my house and I will be visiting every day until she is home.

The infection is on the wound on her leg;
And her temperature is finally coming down so the antibiotics are clearly working but as she isn't really eating she is on IV antibiotics.

Here is my wonderful dog, before the attack. She is so funny and sweet

@Ellythe Awwww, she's a cutie

Is she a licensed boarder?

I am a kennel owner, if her insurance is similar to mine, you (or she) needs to report it within 72 hours of the incident.

Environmental health are the department for licensing home boarders, if you are going to report, report to them but that isn't time critical. The insurance is!

Do you have proof of how many dogs she had there? Unless she has a massive house, she sounds like she had too many dogs there.
Each dog has to have their own room, so they can be split as necessary and not all rooms are classed as suitable. From the number you have given, does she have a 12 room house.

I sincerely hope your little dog recovers both physically and mentally from this, poor little love 😢

Ahh what a little love - it's so hearbreaking. Still they are very resilient and she knows she has you. Bless her heart.

Rosie is absolutely stunning, bless her heart.

It's really good that she's eating and was pleased to see you - maybe now she knows you're there, her recovery will start improving too :)

She is currently licensed but it will be suspended. I have photos of the dogs that she has in her house and I didn't realise until now that she has far too many dogs in her house.

I wish I'd done more research, on the Council's website they're listed as having 5 stars but since the attack I've had a lot of people contact me saying it was an accident waiting to happen. She regularly grooms in a different part of her house and there is no one looking after the day care - boarding dogs.

Since the incident with my dog she has
Posted so many attention seeking posts making out she's the victim because I've told her
I'll be utilising all the means available to me to make it so she can't do this to another dog. I'm so angry.

@Ellythe I too would be beyond angry.

She sounds utterly irresponsible.

Going over her licensed numbers is reckless.

As I said previously, ask who she is insured with and get onto them asap.

@Ellythe I have reread your op 🤦🏻‍♀️

Does she transport the dogs to a unit, or are they always in her home?

So she said it was day care at a unit they own and then the boarding dogs go home with her but since the attack I've found out she keeps them all in her house with day care and boarding dogs mixing all day.

Since my dog was attacked I found out she also donated a client's bed to charity not realising the dog owners had given the boarder their dogs bed.

Honestly I wish I'd known all of this before I gave her my dog. It seems after it's come out about the attack loads or people have messaged me about all these things!!