Looking For Owner of Dog that Bit Child

The Maplewood Health Department is looking for the owner of a German Shepherd and Golden Retriever  On the morning of July 26 a woman walking these two dogs in Memorial Park passed by children at the YMCA Camp.   The German Shepherd bit one of the YMCA campers.  We have been unable to locate this dog or owner.   Please contact, Robert Roe at Maplewood Health Department.  973-762-8120 x4400.  


I may be asking the obvious but have you considered staking out the park at the same time and place that this happened? Although the owner may be laying low.


from Bob Roe:  We have tried this without success.   I also heard that these dogs are seen on Maplewood Ave. in the morning.  


From Bob Roe again:   Sorry for the tangent, but I just saw a bright orange parrot in the holly tree outside my office window.  Perhaps it is someones escaped pet.   


from Bob Roe:  One witness reports they think this person lives on east side of Maplewood Ave. between Jefferson and Parker Ave.  Please contact me if you are this person or if you know this person.  No criminal issues, just civil issues and responsible pet ownership issues.  Thanks.  


If this was my kid I would damn well want there to be criminal issues.


It is not criminal. When our daughter was 5 she was bitten by a friend's German shepherd. The couple was horrified. My daughter had to get 30 stiches in her scalp. We heard so many stories about people's dogs who suddenly bit someone.  It was a good reminder that pets are animals that will suddenly bite for reasons we don't always understand.


Keep your kids away from strange dogs. When people used to let their animals close when my kids were little I would pull them away. Dog owners are always shocked, shocked when their dog bites someone. 

Dogs are cool, but they're animals, not people. They behave unpredictably and their owners, despite what they may think, do not have a complete picture of what their animal is feeling in the moment.

Hopefully this person is found and held to account.


Were the dogs on or off leash?  There is a group of irresponsible owners who think that Memorial Park is a dog park.  I wish they were ticketed on a regular basis.  I love dogs, but don't like having multiple unleashed dogs rushing up to me while I walk to the train.



gerryl said:

It is not criminal. When our daughter was 5 she was bitten by a friend's German shepherd. The couple was horrified. My daughter had to get 30 stiches in her scalp. We heard so many stories about people's dogs who suddenly bit someone.  It was a good reminder that pets are animals that will suddenly bite for reasons we don't always understand.

I hope there are consequences to dodging the responsibility of this for a week. This does not appear to be a case of a horrified owner who did the right thing. 


Am I imagining this or having a deja vue? I seem to remember there being an issue with the same dog/owner/location being described.


Harriet said:

Were the dogs on or off leash?  There is a group of irresponsible owners who think that Memorial Park is a dog park.  I wish they were ticketed on a regular basis.  I love dogs, but don't like having multiple unleashed dogs rushing up to me while I walk to the train.

My teen son was bitten by our next-door neighbor's mutt. Neighbors were having a small neighborhood get-together. About 30 people were in the house. My husband and I were there, but my son was arriving later. It was an open-door type of gathering. He walked in the front door, and the dog just walked right up and bit him on the hand.


I was attacked by an unleashed dog in Memorial Park while running a couple years ago. Since then I always carry pepper spray.


I think the major issue is that the child will have to get treatment for rabies without proof that the dog's vaccinations are up to date.


I seem to recall from registering/renewing my dog's license that I had to provide information about breed as well as other info to the town.  Assuming that the dogs are licensed in Maplewood (perhaps a bad assumption?) could the owner be located via license records based on the information already mentioned?


If anyone would know that, Bob Roe would.


From  Robert Roe:  We have checked the records.  Thanks to everyone who has helped.  I am pretty sure we will find the person.  


bump.   None of the leads panned out.   


Any chance it was a dog walker and not the owner?  (And if so, would there be a way to check local walkers?)

Hope you find the dog & owner soon!


By now due to the irresponsibility of the person with the dog a child has most likely had to endure a probably unneeded round of painful and expensive rabies shots. I can not understand some people's not taking responsibility for their actions. 


Maybe the person does not live in Maplewood/South Orange.


Very sorry the dog's owner/walker was not found. 

This week I was in Maplecrest park for a game, and someone was playing 'fetch' with their unleashed dog on the big field, right next to where we were getting ready to play. 

I asked the person to leash their dog, and first he said the dog doesn't bite (which I've found is a common first response to this request). Then the person asked me on "what authority" was I asking them to leash their dog? 

After I pointed towards the sign 15 feet away that required dogs to be leashed, he said he would take that into consideration. (How nice).

He then continued to play 'fetch' with the unleashed dog right along our playing field until I took out my cell phone and started dialing the Maplewood police non-emergency number. (For anyone's reference, it is: 973.762.3400 ).

In a past instance that was similar (but with multiple dogs), the Maplewood police front desk did not sound too thrilled about responding to a call about unleashed dogs in Maplecrest park. But when I told them that the dogs were in the vicinity of children, they sent an officer over.



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