I (27F) recently went on a hike with my friend (27F) Amanda and both our dogs Bailey (mine) and Coffee (hers). Bailey is not a typical size Husky and is smaller than Coffee, a Kelpie in size. The hike went well where both dogs behaved normally and showed no signs of aggression towards each other at any point.
After the hike we decided to go chill at a park. This particular park had signs that said dogs need to be leashed. Not far away from us were two guys playing catch with a tennis ball. Coffee has always had a crazy obsession with balls. She’d always chase after any ball she sees relentlessly no matter the time and place. She saw the tennis ball and wanted to run after it and to my surprise Amanda did not stop her and instead dropped her leash and said “go Coffee!”. Needless to say Coffee ran after the ball immediately and I could see the confusion on the two guys’ face as she stole their ball. The guys tried to get their ball back and this made Coffee charge back at us at full speed. Bailey is very defensive of me so when she saw this she got into a defensive stance and the next thing we know they got in a fight. It all happened very quickly. Bailey ended up getting clawed in the face and eyes and there were blood everywhere.
We drove to the nearest emergency vet straight away where Bailey was given stitches and the vet also checked on Coffee which was uninjured thankfully. The vet bill ended up costing $650 which I was not in a position to afford at that point in time. I had to call my mum in the hospital to borrow some money so I could settle the bill on the spot. On the way back Amanda offered to pay for half the bill which I accepted. This is where I think I might be the asshole. WITAH if I thought she should be paying for the entire bill since the whole incident was because she disrespected the park rule? WITAH if I ask her to pay for the follow up with the vet which is roughly around $200?
