We Are Responsible for Those We Have Tamed

"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous,

he will not bite you.

This is the principal difference between a dog and a man."

Mark Twain

Dogs (after cats) are considered the most beloved pets among the people of Germany. The rules for keeping dogs are not subject to standardised national regulations in Germany; instead, individual federal states set their own legislative rules. In addition, there are municipal rules established by local communities on the basis of these regulations. As a result, the rules can differ not only between federal states but also between individual municipalities. In Berlin, for example, a dog's collar must show the owner's name and address, and mandatory microchip identification is required in line with the ISO standard. As a general rule, anyone wishing to get a dog in Germany must first register the animal with the local tax office. The owner then receives a registration tag (Hundemarke), without which walking the pet is not permitted.

Under § 833 of the German Civil Code (German: Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch, BGB), an animal's owner bears full liability for any harm it causes. This applies both to injuries to people and other animals and to material damage. There is no need to prove any particular fault on the owner's part. Only animals through which the owner earns their living — for example, a farmer's cattle — are exempt from this liability. In some federal states, an animal owner is legally required to take out liability insurance covering harm caused by their animal (Tierhalter-Haftpflichtversicherung).

In addition, Germany has fairly strict rules on how dogs must be walked. In most German cities, dogs of any kind may not be let off the lead in public places. Signs at shop entrances often read: "Dogs must wait outside." But even where there is no such sign, bringing an unleashed dog into a shop is strictly prohibited. Furthermore, letting "man's best friend" move around freely is also prohibited on public transport, on the grounds of hospitals, kindergartens, schools and universities, at public festivals and other large gatherings, and in green public spaces. In some regions, the ban on unleashed dogs also applies at set times even in rural areas, where dogs might disturb wildlife. Breaching any of these rules exposes owners to a substantial fine of up to 600 euros. And this is by no means a purely theoretical figure — owners are in practice fined for this fairly often.

Our law firm's clients regularly include both people harmed by someone else's pet and owners of pets that have caused harm. We describe one such case in this article.

An elderly woman named Irina (name changed) became a client of our law firm. The woman had been living alone for some time and, to brighten up her routine, decided to get a pet — specifically, an English mastiff named Skipper. Skipper had lived with Irina for several years by then, and over that time the two had grown used to one another and become practically family. Naturally, they had their own daily rituals. Every morning, afternoon and evening, Irina would go for a walk with Skipper in the nearby park. It should be said that both the owner and the dog thoroughly enjoyed these walks. So they would walk for a long time in any weather, in no hurry, covering all their favourite paths and corners of the park. Sometimes, if our client saw no one else nearby, she would let the dog off the lead so that Skipper could run around freely and burn off his energy. The evening on which this story took place was no different from any other. Irina was walking Skipper through the park, enjoying the bright colours of autumn. Unfortunately, this idyll was unexpectedly disrupted. In the clearing where our client was standing, a man appeared, also accompanied by a dog. Skipper usually loved "getting to know" and "socialising" with other pets, but this time something clearly went wrong. Our client's dog, who was walking off the lead, ran over to the other dog. Irina suspected nothing was amiss until the two dogs suddenly became locked in a fierce fight. Both owners, of course, rushed to separate their "fighters," but that proved harder than they would have liked. As a result of this scuffle, everyone came off worse — both dogs sustained injuries of roughly the same severity, and the owners were slightly hurt too, picking up bruises, contusions and several deep scratches while trying to pull the animals apart. Shocked by what had happened, Irina hurried home, then immediately took Skipper to a veterinary clinic for first aid. Fortunately, nothing serious was found, and the dog had not been badly hurt. Later, at home, she treated her own wounds herself and likewise found nothing particularly serious. At the time, she rather rashly assumed that this was where the unpleasant incident would end, but things turned out to be far more complicated. Barely two weeks after the incident, the woman received a letter of claim, prepared by the attorney of the other dog's owner, demanding compensation for material damage caused to the man through harm to his property — in this case, his animal — in the amount of 2,000 euros. In addition, the owner of the "injured" dog demanded compensation of 1,000 euros for harm to his own health, plus 500 euros for non-material damage. Not knowing how best to handle the situation, Irina, on the advice of acquaintances, made the right decision to come to our firm for a consultation.

Our civil-law attorney first listened carefully to our client, asking her to describe all the circumstances of the incident in detail, and then, based on the information gathered, carefully analysed the applicable legislation and the case law on similar disputes. As a general rule, it turned out that liability for the actions of pets rests with their owners. Where two pets kept not for "commercial" but for "companionship" or "everyday" purposes get into a fight, fault is generally split equally between them. However, where one side's conduct in such a fight involves particularly aggravating circumstances, these must be taken into account when calculating the damage. In our client's case, it had to be taken into account that her dog had been walking off the lead, which runs counter to the rules in force in Germany. It therefore had to be accepted that the greater share of fault for the "fight" lay with our client. Even so, it remained important that, since two dogs had been involved in the fight, liability between their owners had to be apportioned rather than assigned entirely to one side. In our case, given these circumstances, although Irina's share of liability was greater than that of the other dog's owner, it did not rest with her alone. In addition, our client's own dog had been injured too, meaning our client had herself incurred losses in the form of veterinary costs. On the recommendation of our firm's attorney, it was therefore decided to prepare a response to the claim Irina had received. In this response letter, after setting out the arguments above and evidence that our client's dog had also been significantly injured, we proposed settling the dispute by fixing the amount payable by our client at 900 euros. Moreover, since no non-material damage had actually been proven with regard to the other dog's owner, that claim was excluded from the original demand and was not to be compensated. After several rounds of correspondence and phone calls with the other side, an agreement was reached between the parties. The parties signed a document setting out these terms in writing. Our client was pleased with the work we had done and asked our permission to turn to our firm again in future.

In closing, it is worth adding that Germany, including at the state level, takes a fairly caring approach towards pets. For example, if an owner is no longer able or willing to keep an animal (say, if the owner falls seriously ill), a dog or cat can be handed over to a shelter, along with payment of a certain sum towards its upkeep. So-called "animal homes" are common in Germany and are run by volunteers. Anyone who wishes can visit at a time that suits them to spend time with the animals, feed them and take them for walks. This option is also used by people who cannot keep a dog because they live in a rented flat, since in the vast majority of cases landlords do not allow tenants to keep dogs or cats. Dogs and cats that end up in an "animal home" can be adopted for a nominal fee of 50 to 100 euros. This money goes towards buying food and cleaning the premises. For our part, we wish our readers loyal and devoted companions and encourage them to look after our four-legged friends — and, should any legal questions arise, to turn to our law firm without delay.

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THE LAW FIRM REPRESENTS CLIENTS' INTERESTS THROUGHOUT GERMANY

Civil Law

All rights reserved. Copying or republishing this article requires a link to the original source.