HELP......URGENT ADVICE NEEDED

Hi All
Please help me with a dilemma I have.
We are going away end of the month and a work colleague had said to us we would love to look after Romeo (14mths old) when we go away. Basically they were telling me of a good dog sitter that they use for there 2 miniature schnauzers (aged around 3 & 5 yrs old) unfortunately the sitter isn't available and that's when the colleagues said that they would love to have him.
So we agreed subject to a visit on how they got on with a meet up in advance. Well this meet up was Saturday morning as I was working that morning up till 12.0 and as they lived 5mins from work it made sense that this was a good opportunity. Let me start off with saying Romeo is well integrated with other dogs as we made a special effort to have him meet all shapes and sizes of dogs from the minute his injections were in place. He goes off the lead in the big parks and plays with all dogs/humans. So I dropped him off at 0830 and was greeted at my car and let he say hello to the work colleague and left them walk him into the house and I followed.
I was told in advance by them that their dogs do bark a lot (Romeo only barks when his asleep and is woken up by the door bell/strange noises) Anyhow the colleague for some reason let Romeo off the lead (now their house is small and the living room is tiny) their 2 dogs were on the sofa and barking madly with one of the owners holding onto them.Romeo was excitedly running around the room sniffy etc and one of their showed aggression and Romeo returned the favour. They didn't bite but showed their teeth and I immediately pulled Romeo out of the situation and said this was a bad idea in that we have come straight into their territory and we shouldn't be here but on neutral ground.So leads we're on and we all went for a walk heading to some fields.Now I left the man with Romeo to walk while his wife walked their 2. All the way to the fields the 2 dogs were barking constantly,Romeo wasn't interested other than cocking his leg and doing a no2. So we reached the field and with them on the leads we let them sniff each other ,Romeo just stood rather still while one expected his rear and one his face , all well we said see neutral grounds seems to have done the trick. So they took one dog and lead him with Romeo in left and right hand. Then they changed to the 2nd dog (this was the dog that was barking more so than the other and it didn't take long for that dog to get too close and snapped and growled showing his teeth at Romeo which in turn Romeo did the same. I need to stress not once in the 30mins I was there did Romeo bark,snarl,growl until he was verbally attacked by there dog.It was then that I said aloud do not think for one moment you should look after Romeo if there is not truce. We headed back to theirs and I got in my car to go to work leaving Romeo with them agreeing that we will meet up at 12.00 when I finished. As I sat in my car I texted my wife to say OMG what have we done this isn't going to plan. I was concerned for Romeo that I'm leaving him with 2 dogs be it a little bit smaller than him (not by much) but who were showing aggression towards him, we'll I had no choice as I had work and I thought I was leaving him in good hands with 2 responsible adults!
So I was surprised by 10.15 (a little over an hour after I left him)he was in my office with the man and the mans figure was bleeding. OMG what has happened , he said another dog came along also a schnauzer and started barking and apparently was just saying hello to his dogs as they know each other (didn't know that dogs greeted each other with a bark, maybe I'm wrong) he then went onto say it was then that Romeo started fighting with his dog that when he tried to separate them he got but on the finger bitten by Romeo.asked where his wife was and he said at home getting ready to take the dog to the vets. I checked with him later via text as he didn't answer my call and I got a reply back late last night saying the dog is staying at vets has a cut eyelid and maybe his jaw is fractured but will not know until Sunday. We are in total shock of this. His late night text also said 'I don't think anyone is to totally blame it was just a situation that broke out in a couple of seconds' now today Sunday we are getting more updates saying that his lower jaw has breaks where Romeo snapped down on it and they he will lose 5/6 teeth. Then we get another text saying insurance will cost 3-4 thousand pounds and there is 15% excess. This is driving us nuts with worry and although we have full cover I feel as if this has nothing to do with us. They wanted him they took responsibility of him and their dogs and within an hour all hell has broken out. I'm so sorry this has been so long but wanted to show the full picture and wanted to share our worries with you special people. Please let me have all your thoughts , good or bad. I will contact my insurance but that can't be until Monday at the earliest and so would love to hear everyone else and their views.

Mark

The only thing I worry about is are you insured if you weren't the one with the dog. What a terrible situation to be in - I wish I could be more help.

Yes we are insured

God what a nightmare for you, I'm sorry I don't have any advise, just speak to your insurers ASAP x

glad you are insured,just in case,least you know your covered,what a situation to be in.i would phone your insurance in the morning and see where you stand.you must be so worried,i take it Romeo is ok?

Yes your insured but you weren't the ones with him when the incident happened.

I really feel for you Xx

What a nightmare! Not much that I can suggest really, you'll never know 100% what happened I suppose which is really frustrating. Just hope you can get help with the insurance if you weren't the one walking him.

His absolutely fine (thank god) we feel for the injured dog of course but all I saw in the 30mins I was there was the schnauzers being aggressive towards Romeo not the other way round.Whose to say that the owner pulled his dog away and pulled him from his jaw area and this is why the damage has occurred.No one knows apart from them so am I to take their word for everything that was said, I don't think so. At the Incident were 2 fully grown adults male/female with 3 dogs on their leads and surley between them they could have sorted this out very quickly. In fact the 3rd schnauzer we are told came along and barked and triggered the event (does this dog exist we wonder) even if it does that's 3 adults with 3 miniature schnauzers and Romeo who is only as big as them himself (be it wider and heavier) did all 3 schnauzers start fighting including Romeo hence they didn't control the situation as this sounds a little more plausible than just 2 dogs who were on leads. I will copy and paste by post and email tonight to the insurance company.Things are just made worse because the woman works with me luckily she's upstairs and I'm down so our paths don't often cross but awkward all the same. If anyone else has any comments please do. I will keep you informed. Thanks as always

i would keep all txts that they sent about it not being anyones fault also - they knew there wasnt a truce so they shuda been more careful

Yes I've kept them and actually forwarded to the wife and a close friend just in case anything happened to my phone. Look if we are partly responsible I'd take it on the chin no worries but I also look at think if its was the other way round and I was looking after their dogs and through my integration holding the leads etc I would feel the one responsible if their dog attached mine and my was the one at the vets. How could I blame the person who wasn't even at the scene. It's like me giving the neighbour my car to drive ,they go crash it into a tree and all of a sudden it's my fault because its my car

But it would be your fault as they wouldn't be insured to drive your car. Harsh I know.

Speak to them tomorrow and I really hope you can rectify the problem. Honestly do x

You could also speak to the vet who is treating the other dog to get first hand information on the dogs injuries x.

Thanks guys and girls think at the end of the day ill leave it to my insurance company , I know insurance companies do not like to pay out for anything especially if they can find a reason not to so I guess I'll try and step out of the limelight and let one insurance company talk to the other (that if they reckon they have a case to answer to or not )

What a nightmare.. Feel so sorry for all involved really.

Your probably right in letting the insurance companies sort this one out, though I can't quiet get my head around how/why they let they situation occur.

Hope it sorts out ok for you all.

Oh god, total nightmare.

This is kinda why I would never leave my dog with anyone other than a professional experienced dog sitter. They are sort of much more ready to cope with anything out of the ordinary happening and don't usually have their own dogs.

Really hope the insurance pays out for you. Good luck.

What a horrible situation. Too late now, but shame you didn't walk them ( you having Romeo on lead, them with theirs) on completely neutral ground way before it got to the house visit stage. I do hope the dog is ok. I wonder, if they are insured too, that the 2 insurers could share the cost? It seems unfair to be just yours.

Update: spoke with my insurance company and they say you can't insure for animal to animal fight e.g dog fight or dog v cat etc and so it wouldn't be covered by any insurance. I said fine but can you tell me who is liable those in charge of the dog at the time or the owner that was not there. Sorry I have never come across this situation before I was told, sorry we don't know the answer. To say I wasn't happy to hear this I told them bluntly You are telling me you do not know the UK law for something like this situation. No we don't , with me pushing them saying that I am not happy that they want to wash their hands with the incident and not even try and advise me I think I finally got through to the lady I was talking to and she started to try and research while I was on the phone. She has asked me to check Dog Law.co.uk and hopefully I wil find the answer (I will do this shortly) I told her I can't believe I'm the 1st dog owner in UK to have this situation and if her company doesn't know the answer to my question then best they investigate for future reference to at least be able to answer someone else . She said we are not an advisory company . PS I'm with Animal Friends

Shame Animal Friends have always been good with me. Do you no yet if the other dogs owners are claiming against you or not?

Officially no but from the texts that I rcvd from Saturday night to Sunday pm they have gone from things like 'no one is totally to blame its just one of those things, lol Chaz . To starting to talk about this cost possible £4000 and have to pay 15% excess Regards Charles (I didn't even know he was a Charles. I replied back Glad to hear you have insurance , Take care Mark. I then got a reply back 2hrs later with just ....... In the text. I wasn't going to respond anything further until I coud out more info and the lady who works with me calls in sick

Hey again! If their insurance doesn't cover it I suppose the right thing to do is to go halfs on the costs, of half on the excess. If you can confirm that he has always been of level temperament and never been aggressive to another dog before, then it's strange for him to attack with such force out of the blue, but if the dogs were going for him given his breed it's unlikely that he would just back down immediately. Add to that he was in a strange situation with new dogs that he didn't know, it's possible that he would have acted out of character. Personally, I would have never left my dog with two dogs that had been uncomfortable with him, but my dog does have behavioural problems.

Want to tell u a story
Was over the park tonight about 8.30pm with Romeo and a woman was there with her 15mth old red setter and a10yr old cross terrier.
We was chatting and both Romeo and setter were on leads but the terrier was off lead. The terrier snapped at him and I thought OMG pls don't tell me an incident is going to happen. She asked if I wanted to let Romeo off with her setter, yes I said and the 2 ran off chasing each other rolling all over the grass.
At one point all 3 were about 15ft away from us and the terrier snapped and growled at Romeo again and my heart was in my mouth. Dreading to see if Romeo was mentally scarred from what ever happened last Sat.
Thankfully he basically stuck his bum in the air and ran off with his massive smile and tongue hanging out Wagging his tail while been chased by cooper the setter.
She put the old one back on lead. Romeo kept on dive bombing us while talking , but the terrier kept on snapping and I was so nervous as to how he might react.
SO SO PROUD OF ROMEO , he didn't make a single aggressive move, no bark,no snarl or growl all he wanted to do was play with his new best mate.

That's it just thought I'd share. I'm planning to call the women b4 the weekend is over to see how her dog is ,not looking forward to it though

feel for u but i would never leave my 2 with someone that not only had dogs of their own that were not friends with mine, but obviously were inexperienced in "dog sitting" not insured for this either seems like a good gesture from a work collegue has become a nightmare! this is why we dont go on holidays i wouldnt trust anyone with my babies. im afraid i no longer have my dogs insured as i had a dispute with my insurers and since then the premiums have rocketed £33.50 a month was last quote i got for chester crazy! i put money away each week for them both, u should still query your insurance company sounds inexperienced staff dont know anymore than u do though! i always insured my dogs up until recently because they just rip u off now! vets costs are scary though next time u go away though leave your babies with family or kennels u have checked out!

Third party liability covers injuries to other dogs as long as there's culpability and it's normally an additional extra. If you don't have this your insurance won't help.

However, in this case it's highly likely that legal culpability would be split between the keeper (the person walking your dog) and the owner of the other dog, to whatever degree, so even if you had TPL your insurance probably wouldn't have paid out. Unless you were aware of the dog previously showing aggression and had not disclosed it to the dog walker then it's very unlikely you would be held legally liable for any part of the vet's bill. Whether you pay it all or part of it in good will is up to you, of course. HTH.

Tricky one!
As you were not there, you are totally taking their word for the chain of events.
It sounds like their ineptitude led to the situation arising.
As someone else said, I would possibly offer to go halves on the excess, and if they want you to pay it all, I personally would end contact.

At the end of the day, the situations always going to be awkward with them after this, regardless..!