Louie Vuitton

Dear Vudes and Tus,

I was walking my dog, Louie, last week with my stylish umbrella and my Gucci flip-flops. While he is a small dog, he has a big bite. He wandered onto my neighbors property and took a large bite out of his red pepper bush. This week, I was walking him again and he straight up swallowed a garden gnome. I jogged him back to the house and hoped no one would find out. Both of the neighbors called me up and demanded payment. What am I obligated to pay?

Sincerely,

Mitchell Weiss

Dear Mitchell,

I think that it's obvious that you would pay for the red peppers that Louie ate, since those are normal for him to eat. However, since the garden gnome was not normal and you couldn't have expected it, you only pay for half damages for that. However, if this had occurred in public property, you would have to pay for what Louie benefitted, which would be the cost of a regular meal that you give to your dog. It's a known rule that any animal that eats/drinks what is normal for it and causes damage on private property in the process is obligated, because the owner should have been paying attention for that stuff.

As I'm writing this response, my good friend Papa informed me that he believes that this includes foods that an animal would eat in an unideal situation. This means that eating those kind of foods from the property of another would also obligate you to pay for full damages.

Sincerely,

Vudes and Tus