I caught part of a case on one of those televised court shows. One owner was suing the other for vet bills for her small dog who had a fight with a big dog in an off-lead fenced-in dog park.

I didn't catch the ruling, but it made me wonder. Is there a presumption of mutual (or no-fault) combat in an off-leash dog park? Is there an assumption of risk when you enter an off-lead park? Or is there a (verbal) control requirement?

from what I can read here:
http://www.myhamilton.ca/myhamilton/CityandGovernment/CityDepartments/PublicWorks/Parks/Programs/LeashFreeDogParks.htm

owner's are still subject to Ontario Dog Owner's Liability Act.

So it's the same in our off leash parks if your dogs attack's and injure's another dog as it would be if he did it in the street.

I personally think small dogs & larger dogs shouldn't be allowed in the same area, but who am I!

 Quote: wendy lefebvre

... I personally think small dogs & larger dogs shouldn't be allowed in the same area ...

Oh, so do I. I don't recommend or patronize off-lead dog parks, period.

I was just wondering ... there is a dog park near me with a clear "must be under voice control" sign, and it seems that that would settle liability when there is a clear aggressor.

But then there must be mutual-combat instances. I wonder if each owner must pay for the other dog's vet bills in a case of no-clear-fault.

 Quote: Wendy Lefebvre

I personally think small dogs & larger dogs shouldn't be allowed in the same area, but who am I!

Our local dog park didn't put in a separate area for small dogs until after a Bichon was mauled by a German shepherd.

sigh.

I wonder what the ruling was? The laws probably differ depending on your jurisdiction.

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

 Quote: Wendy Lefebvre

... I personally think small dogs & larger dogs shouldn't be allowed in the same area ...

Oh, so do I. I don't recommend or patronize off-lead dog parks, period.

same here.

i don't understand how people can still think these are a good idea.
Especially if you own a small dog that's too big for his/her britches!!!

I don't know how you would figure out who started what and who inflicted what damage in a multiple fight in those parks.
We all know once a fight starts other dogs join in even if they weren't the aggressor! Especially if one of the dogs goes down.
It's a pack concept.

Maybe they tally together the total of the vet bills for each injured dog & divide it by the number of people???

it's that mindset that their dogs are just furry little people, I've indulged that delusion from time to time like I think we all have but most of here know when to get realistic

Just another reason to not go to the local dog park, IMO. I wonder who the intstigator was in the case. I hate to say it, but from my experiences it seems that the "little" dog is more often than not the instigating party, not the "bigger" dog.

Little off topic, but closely related...
When we were camping with my parents over Labor day weekend, my mom and I took all the dogs (my three and her one) for a walk. I had Shaed and Otto, she had Lily and Zeus. We walked past a campsite where we thought it was a camp host (later found out that it was just a rental camper in the old host site) and they had 2 dogs off leash, one was a old Lab mix and the other was a long haired dachshund. They had control over the old dog, but the little one came rushing up to us and of course all of the dogs reacted. My mom was being dragged by Lily (all of my dogs were wearing prongs and since my mom doesn't know how to use a prong, had no control of Lily). I had to tell me mom to just keep walking and ignore the dog, she finally did, but she was holding the leashes in atense way-I told her to relax, she did a bit. On our return trip, the people had tied up the dachshund in the farthest corner of their campsite, away from the road. Made me happy, but if I had not told my mom to keep walking, Lily could've easily pulled her onto her ass and got that little dog.

I have walked all of my dogs while pushing the stroller and have only once had an incident where I felt my dogs were out of my complete control and that was while passing some fenced in dogs. Needless to say, I only walk one or two of them when pushing the stroller now

Now back to your original thread!

In the case of Bichon vs GSD, I'd have to say the GSD won. According to local news, not only did the Bichon have serious injuries, the owner of the 2 GSDs took off from the park so the Bichon owner had to pay the bills herself.

Our dog park, which we would never go to, has a big sign that says "enter at you and your dog's own risk - city is not responsible for any injuries". So that leaves the people to duke it out on their own if anything happens - and it does, because more people than not, who frequent those parks are doing it so their doggies can have little friends. They call them playdates! So dumb!

I have to agree with everything said here. I find that many dog owners are unaware of "dog language" in my neck of the woods. Many do not recognize dominance, or the signs of stress. Many people have told me that their dog is friendly, only to find out that there are fear, avoidance and dominant body language going on. When I refuse to let my dog play, the people look at me as if I am crazy. Some even tell me that their dog's tail is wagging. Yeah, but held so high that you could fly a flag from it.
That said, I avoid dog parks for all things except to train my dog to ignore unstable dogs.
IMO many owners would never even know if their dog started a fight!