Dog bite sends Upper Valley jogger to hospital for preventative rabies treatment

SHARON — The Selectboard said it will decide within 30 days what action to take against the owner of a dog that bit a jogger as he was running past the dog owner’s home, causing wounds requiring the jogger to make multiple visits for medical treatment.

“We will have a written decision within 30 days, probably much less than that,” said Sharon Selectboard Chairman Kevin Gish at the board’s regular Monday meeting after hearing testimony from the dog bite victim, in addition to that of another Sharon resident who related that she also had a disturbing encounter with dogs from the same Fay Brook Road address.

The dog bite victim filed a complaint with the town stating that he and his pregnant wife were jogging past a Fay Brook Road home in July when a German Shepherd ran out into the road. It bit the jogger several times and then turned on his wife before he swatted the dog with his water bottle and the dog’s owner came over to subdue the animal.

The dog bite victim told the Selectboard that he has had a total of five visits to the doctor’s office, including four to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center for preventative rabies treatments requiring a dozen injections.

The German Shepherd that attacked the joggers was not current on its rabies vaccination nor was it registered with the town, an investigation by the town’s animal control officer subsequently found.

Under Vermont state law, if a domestic pet bites a person “without provocation” a town has the authority to take measures against the pet’s owner, including ordering the pet to be muzzled, contained or put down.