Legal Responsibilities of a Dog Owner
What can be gained from reading these relevant laws is that pet ownership should not be taken lightly. There are duties that come with being a pet parent that goes beyond feeding pets daily and placing a roof over your head. Immanuel Kant once said that a person`s heart can be judged by the way they treat animals. This is still true today. An animal protection officer, city or district attorney or individual may apply to the court to declare that a person is an irresponsible dog owner and will be punished as provided herein. In recent years, the world has seen an outcry of campaigns to promote responsible pet ownership. Despite this, cruelty and neglect are still part of reality for many pets, seemingly due to a lack of understanding of what constitutes a responsible pet owner. By law, a responsible pet owner, or what some people call a “pet parent,” has two main responsibilities. First, pet owners are required to properly care and care for their pets.
Second, pet owners are vicariously liable for damage caused by their pets. The key for a responsible pet owner is to pay attention to these concepts, especially because cruel treatment of animals is punishable as a criminal offense. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs each year, resulting in about 800,000 injuries requiring medical attention. More than 50% of dog bites occur on the property of the dog owner and account for one-third of all owners` liability claims. k. The provisions of this Agreement are in addition to any other law, regulation or cause of action civil, criminal or administrative against the owner of the Dog or any other person, company, company or governmental entity or employee. Negligence claims based on lack of supervision are difficult to obtain, as comments on rewording that many jurisdictions follow indicate that there is no general obligation to keep dogs under constant control, as they are unlikely to cause significant harm. However, negligence claims offer a great advantage over common law no-fault liability, as victims can assert themselves without proving that the owner knew or should have known the malignant characteristics of their dog.
However, in countries that have introduced modern strict liability, an action for negligence would normally be unnecessary. What happens if your dog bites or gets bitten by another dog? What happens if your dog bites a person? Are there any legal implications for the ownership of certain dog breeds? What happens if your neighbor`s dog barks uncontrollably? And how do you plan for your pets in the event of death or incapacity for work? What is the legal status of your faithful companion? Learn all this and more about the legal aspect of dog ownership! The amount of rooftop liability coverage typically ranges from $1 million to $10 million and covers many types of liability. Most insurance companies have required minimum amounts of underlying coverage – typically at least $250,000 in coverage from your auto policy and $300,000 in coverage from your home insurance policy. If you own a boat, you must also have boat insurance with a certain minimum amount of coverage. Excess personal insurance is relatively cheap. The first $1 million coverage costs about $150 to $300 per year, the second million about $75 and subsequent increases of $1 million cost about $50 per year. However, negligence, unlike common law no-fault liability, does not require proof of the owner`s knowledge of the dangerous characteristics of his or her animal. Therefore, in some cases, it is not effective to claim that the owner was not aware of his dog`s malignant tendencies. For example, in Drake v.
Dean, 19 Cal. Rptr. 2d 325, 335 (Cal. App.3d Dist. 1993), a Jehovah`s Witness was thrown to the ground as she walked up Bandit`s owner`s driveway, which was rented from a hundred-foot guy wire. Since several witnesses testified that Bandit was a well-behaved and gentle animal, the jury rendered a verdict in favor of the defendant on the no-fault liability claim. However, the Court of Appeal considered it an error to dismiss the claim for negligence because the owner could reasonably expect his dog to cause harm even if it did not exhibit dangerous tendencies. The jury should have been asked if the owner had not exercised the usual precautions in putting Bandit on such a long leash. More recently, due to the widespread publicity of dog attacks, about half of all jurisdictions have introduced a new cause of action called “modern” or “legal” no-fault liability, which eliminates the need for the owner to have prior knowledge of their dog`s malignant characteristics (click here for a summary of states that require strict legal liability). Recovery under these dog bite laws requires only four elements: the crime is considered to have been committed by the person responsible for the dog at the time of the crime, and possibly also by the owner of the dog, even if he was not present at the time of the incident. Since an ordinary dog is friendly by nature, responsibility for a dog`s wickedness can usually be found elsewhere, especially at the dog owner`s doorstep.
Dog owners should understand that their actions are usually the cause of a dog`s dangerousness. Regardless of the breed of dog, the dog can pose a significant danger to family, friends and community if the dog is abused, poorly cared for, unsocialized, chained, injured or sick. Responsibility for all these conditions must be assumed by the owner, owner or owner of the dog (with the exception of temporary guardians). Violating duty to a dog can have tragic and even fatal consequences for a friend, family member or neighbor.
