Animal 411

New Canaan Puggle Attacks Another Puggle on Marshall Ridge Road

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A puggle owner in New Canaan has vowed to create a physical fence or else tether the pet on property after it attacked a leashed member of the same designer dog breed over the weekend. Puggles are a cross between a pug and beagle. The April 19 puggle-on-puggle incident on Marshall Ridge Road led to tickets and fines for nuisance dog and allowing a dog to roam for the attacking animal’s owner, according to Officer Maryann Kleinschmitt, head of the New Canaan Police Department Animal Control Unit. The offending puggle breached an invisible fence, though it isn’t clear whether the fence was in working order, Kleinschmitt said. Under state law, it’s the responsibility of the attacking dog’s owner to pay for medical care in clear-cut cases.

Around Town

Coyote Sighting on Stoneleigh Road, Sick Raccoon Put Down

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For the second time in two weeks, New Canaan police put down what appeared to be a sick raccoon spotted on a resident’s property. At about 4:13 p.m. on Sunday, police responded to a Bittersweet Lane home where residents reported a raccoon that appeared to have difficulty standing up. The animal fell into a pond and swam across toward their house, said Animal Control Officer Maryann Kleinschmitt. Police arrived, located the raccoon and put it down, she said. Unless a raccoon or other animal suspected of being sick has direct contact with people or domestic pets, police do not test the dispatched animal’s corpse for diseases such as rabies.

Animal 411

New Canaan Police Put Down Sick Raccoon on Valley Road [UPDATE]

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New Canaan police on the afternoon of April 2 put down a sick raccoon spotted in the area of 747 Valley Road. The animal was walking in circles when police responded to the call at 5:52 p.m. that Wednesday, Animal Control Officer Maryann Kleinschmitt said. If residents ever have a question about wildlife, they should contact animal control, she said. “I do field a lot of questions about wildlife in general—raccoons, skunks—a lot of their behavior is normal but their habits have changed because of their environment,” she said. “If you have roaming chickens, a raccoon will come out of a tree to get at that, and if you have garbage cans that are not secured or are in a wooden receptacle, then a raccoon will dig in the back and go through.”

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Also: Police at 9:14 p.m. on April 6 responded to 128 Bald Hill Road on a report of an injured possum in the back yard.

New Canine-ites

Safety a Concern for Repeat-Offender Roaming Chocolate Lab Near Merritt

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The safety of a chocolate Labrador retriever who lives near the Merritt Parkway is a concern for animal control officers, as the dog continually is getting off property and wandering the neighborhood. The animal was picked up twice on the morning of April 4 in the area of Gerdes and White Oak Shade Roads—the latter a street where residents say motorists regularly speed—and then again this past Monday, said Animal Control Officer Maryann Kleinschmitt. The animal is licensed, she said. “This is now a serious situation with this dog roaming because White Oak Shade is right by the Merritt Parkway there, and the dog will get hit sooner or later,” Kleinschmitt told NewCanaanite.com. The lab is older and its owners have an invisible fence that doesn’t work, she said.

Animal 411

New Canaan Police Respond to Report of Dog Left in Hot Car

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New Canaan Police on Thursday afternoon responded to a call that a dog had been left in a car on Summer Street on a hot day, according to a police report. Responding officers determined that the dog was in good shape and not excessively hot, according to Animal Control Officer Maryann Kleinschmitt. Police, if they’re concerned that the immediate welfare of a dog is in danger will take the dog from a car and charge the animal’s owner with animal cruelty, she said. “It’s not against the law to leave a dog in the car,” she said. “Where problem comes is a dog gets in danger of being overheated—because dogs do not perspire and have no way of cooling themselves down, so they start panting and that can lead to overheating, heat exhaustion and death.”

Two dogs died of exposure to heat in cars in 2012, the last reported cases in New Canaan, she said.