A Darien dog that lunged at, latched onto and tore up a New Canaan woman’s arm early Wednesday on a back trail at Waveny will be issued a restraining order, officials said.
At about 6:50 a.m., police and paramedics were called to Waveny House, where the victim was suffering with 3-inch tears on her upper arm and forearm, as well as abrasions and bruises, after a leashed German shepherd dog attacked her as they passed on a trail, Animal Control Officer Maryann Kleinschmitt said.
The dog’s owner, a Darien woman, was walking the 1-year-old male and was accompanied by a man and another German shepherd when the incident happened, according to a police report. The owner had pulled the dog close as the woman neared, the report said.
“The dog jumped up, got her arm and held on. It was just not good,” Kleinschmitt said. “These are actual tears, not punctures.”
Kleinschmitt—who is newly appointed to serve on an Animal Control Center Task Force in neighboring Stamford—said she’s issuing a restraining order that will require the dog to be muzzled in public at all times, on a 6-foot-leash and never within 20 feet of a human being. The order will hold for the rest of the dog’s life and if it’s broken the next step would be to order the dog put down, she said.
The owner, a Darien woman, was assessed a $75 fine for nuisance dog. Though it is an infraction, if three such violations are assessed, charges rise to the level of a misdemeanor offense, Kleinschmitt said.
The dog has no history of biting, Kleinschmitt said. It is properly licensed in Darien and its shots are up-to-date.
It isn’t clear whether this is the same dog that bit a passerby on the shoulder in Waveny two weeks ago. In that instance, the victim received a series of rabies vaccinations because the owner walked away after the biting happened, so it wasn’t clear whether the dog was up-to-date on its shots.