On Jan. 8 around 3:30pm, an Alden Rd resident was bitten on the ankle when a neighbor’s small dog ran out of the yard. Greenwich Police responded, and according to Lt. Gray, the owner will be fined.
He said that fines vary depending on whether the bite occurs on or off the owner’s property, whether the dog is under the owner’s control, whether the dog is licensed and whether the dog is vaccinated.
Greenwich Animal Control is following up.
In November, Greenwich Animal Control’s officer Suzanne Carlin explained the protocol triggered after a dog bite in Connecticut. She said that Greenwich Animal Control follows up to verify that a dog has been vaccinated for rabies whenever there is a report of a bite. She said Connecticut is more strict than many states, in that dogs must be quarantined for 14 days after a bite (New York requires 10 days of quarantine). And, depending on whether the bite takes place on the owner’s property of off, different requirements come into play. Specifically, if the bite takes place on the dog owner’s property then they can quarantine the animal at home. If the dog bite takes place off their property, they must quarantine the dog in a kennel.
During the 14 day quarantine, dogs are monitored for symptoms of the virus. Symptoms include neurological such as circling and biting at their tails, lethargy, excessive salivating — basically any behavior out of norm for the dog may be a symptom. A dog cannot be re-vaccinated for rabies until after the quarantine has expired. The quarantine is triggered even if a dog is up to date on the rabies vaccination.
Officer Carlin said there are five animals that are vector species for rabies: bats, raccoons, foxes, coyotes and skunks. She said there is a higher frequency of dog bites among females who are not spayed, and that if a dog fight breaks out, the best tactic is to remain calm.
“If you react right away they’ll go at it harder,” she said. “Try to redirect their attention. Take something metal and make noise. If you break their attention, quickly pull your dog away,” she said, adding that sometimes it’s possible to pull the animal’s rear legs to extract them from a fight, but there is a risk of injuring them in the process.
See also:
Dog Fight in Back Country Results in E.R. Visit for Owner of Maltese