When a dog bites a child, it is sometimes the last mistake the animal gets a chance to make.
Short of euthanasia, repercussions can include enormous lawsuits or simple hospital bills, bitter finger-pointing or amicable resolutions. Sometimes, nothing happens after a small bandage is slapped on a small ankle.
Of course, many factors are considered: How serious were the injuries? Did the dog have a vicious history? Would the incident likely be repeated?
When New Albany Police Department dog Condor bit 11-year-old Courtney McGarry on the face after a Hazelwood Middle School demonstration Monday, it was a nightmare for the girl and the dog’s handler Officer Mike Isom. But it will not be the end for Condor. Neither the police department nor the McGarry family want the dog euthanized.
Whether or not to euthanize depends on the health, disposition and adoptability of the dog, said David Hall, director of the New Albany/Floyd County Animal Control and Shelter.
In the case of an attack, the animal cannot be adopted, Hall said. Sometimes the owners take the dog back after a 10-day quarantine.
But if there is no one to claim the dog, “we’d have to understand completely why the dog bit, whether it was a training issue,” Hall said. “But if it was just a random bite, it’s not looking good for the animal.”
The shelter consults with the health department in those cases, Hall said.
Harry Wilder, director of the Clark County Animal Shelter, could not be reached for comment.
Annual surveys by the magazine Animal People have shown a decline in animal euthanasia over the past decade. Dr. Richard Crawford, a veterinarian with the Animal Welfare Information Center in Beltsville, Md., said he attributes most of the decline to improvements in animal medicine.
Crawford has seen courts order privately owned dogs destroyed — “mostly pit bulls and Rottweilers.” In other cases, dogs are quarantined for rabies and either returned to their owners or sent to shelters, he said.
NAPD Chief Merle Harl said Condor will be quarantined at a kennel for 10 days then examined by the health department. If he’s clear of rabies and other infectious diseases, Condor will be put back to work, Harl said.
Harl said he made the decision to allow Condor back on the force. He did not consider retiring the dog: “There’s no need to.”
Officer Mike Isom, Condor’s handler, will not be disciplined for the incident, Harl added.
People who were interviewed Thursday in the city mostly recommended light repercussions for Isom and Condor, if any.
Marla Richart works the reference desk at the library. She said Isom may deserve probation.
“I don’t think it was the dog’s fault,” said Richart, who has a grown daughter and is not a dog owner. “Just restrain them more.”
Behind the counter at Bottles Unlimited, Tommy Pool, 30, said he opposed disciplining Isom until he heard that handlers may not allow their dogs to be petted.
“I think he should be reprimanded somehow,” said Pool, who has a 9-year-old daughter. He does not own a dog, and he does not think Condor should be removed from service.
“He’s not used to people touching him. He probably got nervous,” Pool said.
David Torres, 33, has two children, 10 and 6, but no dogs. He was mending a bicycle tire in the Circle K parking lot Thursday and hadn’t heard about the biting incident until informed by a reporter.
A police dog handler “should be able to read his dog like he could read a book,” Torres said. He wouldn’t recommend any discipline for Isom, but said Condor should be “reevaluated for his temperament.”
News of the bite made it to South Lake Tahoe, Calif., where Terry Fleck spends his retirement from three decades as a canine handler and deputy sheriff. Fleck’s personal Web site describes legal procedures for canine units to follow, including in cases of unwarranted bites.
Fleck helped write the Canine Liability Settlement Agreement in the early 1980s; it advocates offering the victim or victims full medical-bill compensation, which NAPD offered the McGarry family after Monday’s attack.
Many canine units try to employ the agreement, seeking to avoid litigation, Fleck said. But he emphasized how rarely he believes it is necessary. Fleck estimated 16,000 dogs make a total of 200,000 visits to schools in a year and fewer than a dozen result in bites.
Fleck said he had never heard of a healthy police dog being euthanized. Canine unit dogs that bite inappropriately are often retrained through exposure to what caused the outburst, such as close quarters or piercing noises, and it is hoped they learn to endure or ignore that signal.
Nearly all retired police dogs find homes with their handlers, said Fleck, who sat in his office between a 12-year-old retired police dog and a 2-year-old active one.
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