who should pay vet bill

[Debs75]

On Saturday my dog got bitten by another dog, they were both on leads and have met before without incident. They sniffed hello then as we went to leave their dog lunged at mine and tore her ear. She has a hole and a long tear. She is a bassett hound so has v.long ears and she is lucky that the dog didn't split the ear all the way.
At the time the owner said sorry i relied its ok and we walked off. round the corner i had a look at ear and could see the tear so took her to vets. £150 later she has several stitches.
I have insurance andexcess is £60 is it reasonable to ask for payment towards that.

Yes I would, It's fortunate your insurance covers most of it. If my dog injured another like that I would have no problem with being asked to pay/contribute to cost.

Its difficult though, as you say they've met before and been fine together, both dogs were on a lead. You could have kept your dog away from their dog if you wanted to. I wouldn't ask them to pay, just put it down to experience.
If their dog was off the lead and out of control, then I would ask for a contribition. But it sounds like you were both happy for the dogs to sniff and neither expected a bite. You could mention it to them if you see them though. The police won't be interested though as they don't get involved in dog on dog fights.

If it was my dog I would not be offended at all if you asked me for the £60, especially if it was someone I knew on 'hi on walks in the park' terms. I feel it's expected amongst responsible dog owners that if your dog causes damage you are responsible for it.

You can try it, but I think I'd be minded to say no and, when this happened to my dog, the other owner certainly wouldn't have stumped up (knew I'd taken my dog to the vet but I didn't actually ask for money)

It's not serious and even a dog warden won't be interested in an ear bite (esp, a bassett, who it could be argued got their ear caught up unintentionally)

If I'm honest, I think you need to swallow this one.