Gilmore, a former nurse who served on the Board of Health for 24 years, was attacked and bitten on her leg on Sept. 26 as she was passing through the area where the dog was restrained at 21 Hastings St.
“I’m totally amazed by the whole thing. There is a lot of soft-tissue damage. It has a funny feeling, I expect because of some nerve damage. It feels icy-hot, like sort of a burning,” Gilmore said yesterday, adding that during her time as a nurse she often worked with dog-bite victims in the emergency room, but never realized how long such an injury lasted.
“I still have a problem (with the leg). I never realized I’d still have so much swelling,” she said.
Although she has not had any more run-ins with the pit bull, Gilmore said “time will tell” if selectmen made the right decision on Dec. 7 when they voted 2-1 to require the dog’s owner, Jessica Shepherd, to keep Ghost restrained and muzzled while outdoors. If Shepherd does not comply, the board could order the dog be killed.
The board’s decision came one week after hearing testimony from Gilmore, who said the 3-year-old male pit bull bit her leg while she was crossing Shepherd’s yard.
Shepherd said yesterday that she has been complying with selectmen’s orders to keep her American pit bull terrier restrained and muzzled.
“It’s going fine for us, there have been no problems whatsoever. He’s definitely behaving. He doesn’t like the muzzle, but he wears it without putting up a fight,” Shepherd said.
She said she believes selectmen made a fair decision, especially considering that the option of putting the dog down was also on the table at last month’s hearing.
“I absolutely don’t want anyone hurt, and if people are going to walk through his area, it could happen. We’re going to be as careful as possible,” she said.
Although selectmen did not order the dog to undergo training, Shepherd said she is arranging for the dog to receive training from a Hopkinton-based organization specializing in bully breeds, a term loosely referring to dog breeds of bulldog ancestry, particularly, the American pit bull terrier.
(Milford Daily News - Jan 03, 2012)
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