Can I make my neighbors pay the vet bill to have my dog spayed, if their dog impregnated her?

We have an in-ground pet fence on our 2 acre yard. My beagle is an indoor/outdoor dog and is allowed to come and go as she pleases, but she does not leave our yard. When she started to come in heat I began taking her out on a leash and keeping her indoors. My neighbors have a male poodle that they "thought" had been neutered. When my beagle came in heat, he started hanging around my yard. (That's when I noticed that he deffinately had NOT been neutered!) I walked over to the neighbors and explained that my dog was in heat and politely asked them to keep their dog in their own yard for the next few weeks to avoid any problems. I had a gorgeous litter of pups out of my beagle last year and had planned on having 1 more litter next year before having her spayed. The neighbors agreed and were very nice and understanding. I tied my dog out for approx. 20 minutes each morning while I was getting my 3 children ready for school and brought her in before I left to take them to school. One morning when I went out to bring my dog in, she was tied to the neighbors poodle. I called the vet as soon as they opened to ask if there was anything they could give her to abort a possible unintentional litter. They told me that due to the riskiness of the shots, they do not offer them and the only option was to let her have the litter or have her spayed. In order to avoid having unwanted puppies with possible complications and then hoping to find them loving homes......we chose to have her spayed. I took pictures of the dogs being tied so that I could prove it was their dog and the vets office verified that she was, in fact, pregnant when they did the surgery. Due to her being pregnant, the bill was increased by $100!Do I have any legal rights to make my neighbors pay the vet bill? When I confronted them about it they laughed at me and told me that if my dog would have been inside it never would have happened, and that it was MY fault for not watching MY dog in MY yard! Is this something I would have to take to small claims?Thanks in advance for any help or ideas.Wow, so many judgmental and quick to assume people that are so willing to pass their judgment on to others without knowing any details! I didn't ask if my dog was of the proper conformation, the right registry, or any questions regarding the intentional breeding of her. Thank you for your concern for my dog, however, I will allow my vet and her trainer to pass judgment on whether or not she should produce puppies and what their quality will be! (But for the curious.....my dog is OFA certified (hips, eyes, cardiac, & thyroid), AKC & AKC registered....we do not do the show circuits with her because she is a hunting dog, so we do AKC field trials instead...I know where EVERY SINGLE PUPPY IS, the new owners signed paperwork in their puppy packets which had a "no shelter agreement" and I have a commitment to every owner that should they ever want/need to get rid of their beagle, I will gladly take them back without a fee and find them a new home! Every puppy was vetted 3Wow, so many judgmental and quick to assume people that are so willing to pass their judgment on to others without knowing any details! I didn't ask if my dog was of the proper conformation, the right registry, or any questions regarding the intentional breeding of her. Thank you for your concern for my dog, however, I will allow my vet and her trainer to pass judgment on whether or not she should produce puppies and what their quality will be! (But for the curious.....my dog is OFA certified (hips, eyes, cardiac, & thyroid), AKC & AKC registered....we do not do the show circuits with her because she is a hunting dog, so we do AKC field trials instead...I know where EVERY SINGLE PUPPY IS, the new owners signed paperwork in their puppy packets which had a "no shelter agreement" and I have a commitment to every owner that should they ever want/need to get rid of their beagle, I will gladly take them back without a fee and find them a new home! Every puppy was vetted 3

I think you can do it... You would have to find a place to take the case though

No, absolutely not. YOU allowed your unaltered female outside in an unfenced yard while in heat. What did you expect to happen? This is YOUR fault, no one else's.

Why would you want to kill innocent little puppies like that. That is so inhumane. I can't believe anyone would want to hurt little puppies like that.

I'm guessing you would not win in small claims court. To me, letting a dog in heat outside is negligence per se (without other proof).

No. Its your responsibility to alter your own animal. How would it be their fault that you didn't alter your female? You should have had her in the house during her heat.

EDIT: I'm finding it extremely difficult to believe that you would know enough to get your dog professionally trained, take her hunting, and get all of her health clearances . . . . but you would leave her outside, in season, and expect her to NOT get bred, and furthermore want payment from your neighbor.* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *This is 100%, absolutely your fault.YOU knew that your female dog was in heat and receptive to being bred.YOU knew that you had no way to properly confine your female while outdoors to keep other dogs away from her.YOU made the decision to be irresponsible and neglect to take care of your dog when she was vulnerable.I have to ask - what are your dog's OFA scores? What about her eyes, heart and thyroid? Is she AKC registered? Are you a member of your breed club at a local and national level? Does your dog have any working titles?Have you ANY idea what I'm talking about? You are a backyard breeder. You have bred an unscreened, untitled dog - for what reason? Because you like puppies? Because you can sell puppies for a few hundred $$ each? Because your dog is nice and pretty and you think that the only requirements for breeding are a nice, pretty dog with intact genitals? Do you know where each and every one of your dog's puppies are right now, and what kind of care they're receiving? Do you know if they too are churning out litters? Can you guarantee that any of your puppies or their subsequent puppies won't end up dead in a shelter or animal control?I'm not trying to be harsh. Unless you've worked in rescue, you don't have an idea of how massive a problem backyard breeders and puppy mills are.This is your fault, plain and simple. Consider yourself lucky that you were pushed to spay her; she is not here to make money for you or to create more lives destined for the euthanization table.

you are responsible for your dogyou left her outside, unattended, while she is in heat.. ANY roaming male could have come and mated with her.You failed to provide proper supervision while she was in heat.. cut your losses, its not the neighbor's problem to pick up the tab that you should have payed to begin with.

Yeah Make 'Em Pay...

You left your unaltered dog outside unsupervised and she got knocked up because you were irresponsible. Your neighbor is right, it never would gave happened if you had your dog supervised. I don't know if you could win or not. They sided with the idiot who ordered hot coffee and sued for burning her own dumb self because no one told her that the hot coffee she ordered was hot. Maybe a self centered irresponsible person like you could win too. All you can do it try, and hopefully loose so you have to pay even more for your stupid actions.Your a byb anyways why not slap a ridiculous name on them and sell them like you did your last byb pups? You can sell them to the unsuspecting masses as pure bred Poogles you can even tell them they are hypoallergenic everyone else does. Why not right? Your breeding low quality beagles anyway, what's the difference? It's a good thing you didn't think of that! I'm kidding but some enterprising person like you would find it a great idea. I'm glad you were forced to do the right thingOk so maybe your simply a new and extremely unwise breeder who is lacking common sense. Your mentor should have taught you to keep your dog supervised while in heat but it probably didn't occur to them because it's so obvious to most people. Sorry for the byb comment if you true are learning to be legit. In the future keep your dog supervised it's not your neighbors job to protect your dog. It's her job to protect her dog which she's not doing but that's on her.

Yes it is YOUR fault.Underground fences don't really work *at all* therefore you don't really have a fence around your yard, either.Even if you did, dogs have been known to mate *through* fences; they are just that determined.It is incredibly irresponsible to leave an in-heat female dog outside. That's not your neighbor's problem - that's yours.Get her spayed.

In-ground pet fences do not keep other dogs out, and sometimes they don't even keep your dog in your own yard. It doesn't matter if you took pictures or not, you tied her up for 20 minutes knowing she was in heat, and in that time there could possibly even more than one dog that got to her. (probably not, but possible) She belongs to YOU and I would even be embarrassed to ask my neighbor to keep their dog inside because your dog is in heat. Their dog has a right to go out to, you know. Maybe you should think about getting a proper fence, but that is CERTAINLY no guarantee of anything either when a b*tch is in season. Dogs are known to breed AND tie with a chain link fence between them. Go ahead, take them to small claims court but you'll make a FOOL out of yourself. In my eyes, since you are breeding dogs to begin with, she had a beautiful litter before and you were planning to breed her again, $100.00 should be PEANUTS in comparison to the cost of a good breeding. I suppose you don't show or have any genetic health testing done on this b*tch, right? If that's the case, your last litter WAS a BACK YARD BRED litter anyway.

No. It was YOUR respobsibility to hace either spayed her to begin with or take her out on a leash if you knew that she was in heat! Grow up and take responibilty for your actions or find the dog a family that know how to truly be respobsible pet parents rather than trying to pass the buck like you! Its people like you that is the problem with all of all kids, cant take responsibilty for their laziness and stupidity!

nope. you should keep your bit* in season properly confined. as you have learned, tying her out only keeps her from running off.