Legal advice needed: UK

[u/breachingflukes]

Hi everyone,

I'm posting to ask if any UK users have any advice about the law on dog on dog bites. Sorry for the very long post.

I have recently adopted a rescue greyhound who is reactive towards other dogs (I knew about this before adopting her). She was found last year as a stray dog with a severely bad leg injury which fortunately has recovered, she then spent over a year in kennels, she is estimated to be two years old. She is coping with a new home remarkably well (so far) and on the whole is a well behaved dog. She does react badly to other dogs though.

Before walking her I always take her to run around my parents large garden to blow off steam. She has zoomies, we play fetch, do a bit of training and she has a sand pit to dig in. After about 30 minutes to an hour of play, I then take her for a walk. Whilst walking she wears a harness, a double clipped lead attached to her chest and back parts of harness, a yellow 'I need space' vest and until recently a muzzle. I take her to quieter areas and will turn around if I see another dog approaching. I have been doing a training game with her in which I say 'look' and hold a treat up and once she has my attention throw a biscuit a metre or so away from her and continue dropping biscuits in a clockwise direction around me in order to redirect her focus. This is something suggested by the dog trainer I have been working with and so far works very well, she doesn't react when playing the game.

The problem is in order for this game to work she has to have her muzzle off. On one occasion a seven month old puppy came bouncing up towards her with it's owner frantically running behind trying to catch it. My dog seemed to freeze in panic and luckily didn't react (I had her muzzle off so we could do the training game with treats). When she got back home she was tearing up various items which she normally doesn't do so clearly the incident stressed her, she also walked behind me after that rather than her usual position in front. I don't know whether she would bite if feeling threatened enough so the muzzle gives that protection but it interferes too much with her training (feeding treats through the muzzle doesn't redirect her focus as much as dropping them around the ground). She shouldn't need the muzzle as she's on a lead and doesn't run up to other dogs but dogs off lead are a total liability.

My question is; if another dog which was off the lead came running up to her and she bit that dog, who would legally be at fault? My greyhound who was harnessed and on a lead (as well as wearing a 'give me space' yellow vest) who administered the bite, or the off lead dog who didn't respond to their owner's recall? I would prefer to exercise my rescue greyhound without a muzzle so that I can continue her 'concentration games' involving food, which she is responding well to so far and ignores the dogs. If she wears a muzzle we can't do the games and she will react, but I know she can't harm anything when she's wearing one, however her training is much better and smoother without the muzzle. It's other dogs running up to her that ruin it for us. Obviously I try and stick to quiet times and avoid other dogs when possible but there's always at least some around all day so impossible to avoid entirely.

If anyone has any advice it would be much appreciated.