Many bites go unreported, unpunished.

Byline: The Register-Guard

At least a quarter of biting dogs are never classified as potentially dangerous by Lane County Animal Regulation Authority, often in the name of neighborhood harmony.

The owners of dogs classified as potentially dangerous are slapped with fines, and many neighbors don't want to cause friction by reporting the dogs. That leaves owners without any penalties for their dog's actions and no incentive to bring their aggressive animals under control.

The agency deals with an average of 240 dog bites a year, most of them during summer months when dogs and people are outdoors together, agency Director Mike Wellington said. All animal bites are required by law to be reported to the agency.

Though some dog bites handled by animal control are ones suffered by owners, others are not.

For a dog to be classified as potentially dangerous, the victim - often a neighbor - must file a complaint.

Owners of the highest level of potentially dangerous dogs face a minimum fine of $233, excluding the cost of keeping a dog quarantined at animal control for a minimum of 10 days and building a secure kennel. Many victims say they shun that route to avoid neighborhood tensions.

On April 5, Charlie, a cocker spaniel, bit 6-year-old Delaney O'Donnell on both hands when she tried to pet the dog in his yard on Admiral Street.

After reporting the bite to animal control, Delaney's father, Patrick O'Donnell, said he began to file a complaint to have Charlie named a potentially dangerous dog but dropped it when he found out about the high fine.

`I just didn't want to be pegged as `this jerk who lives the next block over who fined us for our dog,' ' said O'Donnell, a firefighter and paramedic in Springfield. "I didn't want to create any animosity."

O'Donnell said he would have felt more comfortable if animal control officers had been able to take over the case.

"Maybe if Lane County Animal Control would have pursued it a bit more aggressively, it would have been a better way to do it," he said. "It kind of takes the spotlight off me and puts it on them."

But without a witness-driven complaint, it is impossible for his agency to go after owners, Wellington said.

"Some people don't file complaints because they're worried about retaliation," he said. `For us to prosecute in the courts we have to have someone stand up and say `Yes, this dog did this to me.' '

Sometimes, after particularly bad bites or in cases that involve children, animal control officers will try to encourage reluctant neighbors to file, Wellington said.

"I would not mind pursuing if it was written that we must pursue any animal we felt was a danger to the public, if we had the staff to do that," he said. "It's tough."

- Andrea Damewood