MONTAGUE A decision by the Board of Selectmen to trade in Booker, a police patrol dog, for a less aggressive tracking and drug-sniffing dog has the approval of a woman Booker bit.
"That would be nice," said Helen Hanks.
Hanks, her aged black Labrador and her 10-year-old daughter were attacked by Booker when they pulled their car into the driveway of their home one day last November. When she opened the car door, Booker - who lived nearby with his policeman handler, Sgt. John Dempsey - fought his way into the vehicle, she said.
Hanks said she is contemplating legal action over the incident.
Selectmen met Monday with Staff Sgt. Gary G. Billings, who is acting police chief, and with Dempsey to discuss the future of the canine program.
The consensus was that Booker had proved valuable in accomplishing his police duties, but his aggression could not be ignored.
"My main goal is to save the canine program," said Dempsey. He said that his preference would be to put Booker back on patrol, but "Booker can't do his job walking around in a muzzle."
Dempsey said he has had conversations with Booker's trainers, who will take him back in trade for another dog which schooled in tracking and drug-sniffing, not aggressive apprehension.
Dempsey said there are other police departments interested in Booker because of his patrol successes.
Billings said the department should not go without a dog.
"This is a program that is invaluable to us," he said.
Selectmen and police are planning to come up with new policies for the program that would be in place before the new dog arrives. Part of those policies would include putting a sergeant in charge of the program and setting limits for the dog.
Hanks said that though her wounds from Booker's attack have healed, she still bears scars.
During the attack, she was bitten in the hand, both forearms and breast, and was dripping blood, she said.
She said her 13-year-old lab was also injured when attacked inside the car, and can barely get upstairs now. She said her daughter was not injured in the attack but was traumatized by it.
"She's doing better," she said, because she knows that Booker is no longer in the neighborhood but is in a kennel, awaiting his fate. David A. Vallette can be reached at dvallette@union-news.com
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