I am over 70, have bad legs, live on the 4th floor, and the building has no elevator. My neighbors on the third floor have a large dog, and when they take it for a walk, it rushes down like a whirlwind and barks loudly. Several times, when I was going up to my floor, the running dog nearly knocked me down. My requests to the neighbors to keep it on a leash even in the apartment have not been successful so far. I am not very stable on my feet, and a fall down the stairs could end very badly for me. Is there somewhere I can turn to reason with the neighbors, as the owner must be responsible for the animal?
Answered by Richard Bunk, Chairman of the Latvian Association of Lawyers
The owner's response
According to the provisions of the Animal Protection Law (Dzīvnieku aizsardzības likums) and Cabinet Regulations No. 266, as well as the local government regulations created based on them, every pet owner is obliged, in particular:
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to control their animal;
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to prevent the animal from threatening people or causing harm,
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to keep it in a way that does not pose a danger to others.
Accordingly, in common areas (which include, among other things, stairwells), the owner must ensure that the animal does not pose a threat to others. And even if someone from the neighbors is simply afraid, the owner must take this into account and go out with the dog while keeping it on a leash.
If a dog knocks a person down, and that person falls and gets injured, then, according to the provisions of the Civil Law of Latvia (Civillikums), the owner of the animal will be held responsible for the harm caused by the animal — in particular, they will be obliged to compensate for damages (treatment, moral harm, etc.) — voluntarily or through the court.
In such a situation, the reader should, first of all, write to the neighbors (specifically write!) that the dog has nearly knocked her down several times on the stairs and warn that if this happens at some point and as a result of the fall she (the neighbor) gets injured, the responsibility for moral and physical damage will be placed on the dog's owners. The letter should conclude with a request to keep the dog on a leash even in the apartment.
If the owners do not respond appropriately to this request, a written complaint can be submitted to the management company and/or the municipal police (especially if the dog regularly runs without a leash and creates a dangerous situation for the residents of the building). The police may first conduct a preventive conversation, and upon repeated violations, impose an administrative penalty in the form of a warning or a monetary fine.
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