New Canaan Police fined the owner of a Great Pyrenees mixed-breed canine after he (the dog) bit a passing jogger two Thursdays ago.
At about 8:30 a.m. on Oct. 17, Officer Sean Godejohn—head of NCPD’s Animal Control section—received a call from the wife of a man who’d been bitten by a neighbor’s dog while jogging down Father Peters Lane, according to an incident report obtained by NewCanaanite.com through a public records request.
She “told this officer that he was bit on his right buttock” and the husband added “that the dog tried to bite him again on his hand,” according to the report.
The man “fled from the dog” and “the dog did not follow him,” it said.
He added “that the dog always barks at him when he jogs by” the animal’s house, the case report said.
Godejohn was able to verify with Pound Ridge Veterinarian that the two-year-old dog is named ‘Buzz’ and identified the animal’s owner. The dog’s rabies vaccination is up-to-date.
The Animal Control officer then phoned the owner and met her at 11 a.m. the same day. The owner “told this officer that she was aware of the dog bite and that the dog escaped from the gate located at the end of her driveway,” the report said. He escaped the property “when the workers came in through the front gate,” the report said, citing the owner’s statement.
Buzz was issued a 10-day quarantine (through Oct. 27) while Godejohn issued the dog’s owner verbal warnings for allowing a dog to roam and failure to license him with the town.
Godejohn also issued the owner an infraction summons for nuisance dog, which carries a fine of up to $100. Under state law, it’s illegal to “own or harbor a dog or dogs which is or are a nuisance by reason of vicious disposition or excessive barking or other disturbance, or, by such barking or other disturbance, is or are a source of annoyance to any sick person residing in the immediate vicinity.”
Subsequent violations qualify as misdemeanor-level offenses, under the law.
The owner is required to pay or plead by Nov. 1.