I feel that b/c I live in the Washington D.C. area vets charge an insane amount here. I could be wrong. Idk if these prices seem too much for other people or if its just me. This is one of the cheaper vets in the area. They are not even located in D.C. I drove out to MD. The vet gave Odin pain killers which really calmed him down. He’s been sleeping like a baby the whole day 
This is the first time he’s rested well since the incident.
If your dog had come to the ER where I work with that ear injury, we would have sedated him, cut off the cartilage that was exposed, and sutured the ear back together. One week of antibiotics, three days of painkillers, bandage check/removal in three days, sutures out in 10-14 days and done. It would have been more like $300 up front, then a bandage check/removal appointment, then a free suture removal. Most people get the reimbursement for the initial repair since that’s the largest expense, then let the follow up slide.
@SeaDragonTattoo: That actually sounds like a really good deal. I paid in total $326.70 for the emergency vet and the vet appt. today. At the emergency vet they didn’t sedate him (that would be a s*** ton more money), cleaned the wound, head bandaged him and gave me 3 days of amox.
To everyone thank you for your input. I really do appreciate it. It gave me some ideas as to what I am going to say to him. I’m going to call him tomorrow morning and try to work things out. So…wish me luck.
I do think that although the other dog likely caused the wound to your dog, you are partly responsible for his injury. You saw how they were playing, you allowed your dog to continue to play, and from your description, there was no overt attack, just an injury that occurred in the course of two dogs interacting.
Sucks that your dog got hurt, but that’s what happens when you allow dogs to play. Sometimes teeth fly and accidents happen. I think its really nice that the other dog owner stepped up and paid the initial bill. I think that some of the ongoing care should be paid by you.
Most vets charge less for a revisit and rebandage. Did you discuss this with the vet you saw? Did you ask about what you can do at home to help your dog? Did you discuss how to keep the bandages on? You can always call the vet’s office and ask for advice. You need to take proper care of your dog in the post injury stage. Your failure to prevent him from shaking off his bandages and opening up the wound shouldn’t become the other dog owner’s responsibility.
I am sorry your dog got hurt. It’s really hard to see them suffer, and I hope he is on the mend and feeling better soon.
I spend a lot of time riding a motorcycle, so I can offer this analogy:
Suppose I’m on the highway riding in someone’s blind spot. They come into my lane without looking over their shoulder, and we get into a crash. I may have been dumb for exposing myself to risk by lingering in their blind spot (that’s why I don’t IRL), but I will have absolutely no problem whatsoever in making them pay for all the damage.
Likewise, you may have exposed Odin to risk unnecessarily by ignoring warning signs (the overtly hostile growling from the other dog), but the truth is you and Odin had every right to be there, and the other dog’s owner bears full responsibility for what happened. Odin suffered a severe disfiguring injury - Christ, he’s missing a good portion of his ear - and you have every right to expect that the other guy pay all the bills for whatever treatment is necessary to get your dog back to a healthy condition.
In my defense, its hard to control a 77 pound, very active dog from shaking his head. He shakes it violently even with the e-collar on. He has to have them on 24/7. He has already broken two e-collars b/c of this incident. Both of which I didn’t bill Andy for. The worst part is he has all this pent up energy b/c i have to keep his activity very limited. These are bandages that were professionally put on by veterinarians, who they themselves say its hard to put on. In addition they can’t wrap it too tight because it could easily cut off his airflow but too lose makes it easy for him to shake off. The difficulty of properly wrapping one is the main reason they don’t want me to do it at home. This kind of brings me to my next point
Update:
I called the vet this morning and explained to her that I just don’t have the money to bring in Odin every 2-4 days to have bandages changed so I will be changing the bandages myself. She warned me to be careful b/c she had an incident where someone wrapped bandages to tight around their dogs leg and they had to end up amputating it. She also told me to come back in 2-3 weeks for what hopefully would be his last visit. By then she is hoping that he would have formed a good scab, enough to keep bandages off.
Soon afterwards I called Andy and explained to him my conversation with the vet. He was extremely kind and understanding about the situation. He agreed to pay for this past visit and the one coming up in 2-3 weeks.
They’re dogs… this stuff happens. It is a commodity and is therefore your responsibility to maintain it, should you wish it to continue to function as intended.
I hope this gives perspective, because it seems people need it.
And any analogies about anything regarding other humans is a moot point.