Charlie, 4-year-old Lab Retriever mix, will now be required to wear a muzzle and be kept on a lead when away from his home on Granada Circle.

The Select Board unanimously ruled that Charlie is a dangerous dog and set restrictions on him. The ruling came at a March 20 hearing triggered after Charlie bit someone for the second time.

“I recommend the dog be declared dangerous owing to two bites in the past year both apparently unprovoked,” Animal Control Officer Jeff Collins said.

On Jan. 8, Collins was notified by Urgent Care in Stoughton about a dog bite that occurred earlier that day, according to Collins report. The bite victim told Collins she had been walking on Granada Circle in the street when she saw a woman with three dogs on leashes. The dogs sat as she approached. She was still walking in the street. She turned around toward the dogs and spoke to the woman, who was a dog walker. At this point Charlie lunged toward the victim, pulling the dog walker off the sidewalk and bit the victim on the upper arm through her coat and shirt, breaking the skin and requiring stitches.

An earlier incident occurred in May 23, 2018. Parking Enforcement officer Steve Simonds, who was acting animal control officer at the time, responded to that report of a dog bite victim.

The victim said he was walking on the conservation portion of Plymouth Street soccer field when he saw a woman with four dogs, three had no leashes, according to the report. One of the dogs, Charlie, approached him and bit him on the buttocks.

Charlie’s owner, Kevin Crawford, of Granada Circle told the Select Board at the hearing that in both instances Charlie was under supervision of a professional dog walker they had hired and in the company of other dogs. They no longer employ the dog walker, he said.

“In 27 years of owning dogs, we have never had any problems,” Crawford said.

Since the January incident, only Crawford said only his wife and he walk Charlie and they do so at times when people in the neighborhood are not on their way to work or children on their way to school.

When on his owner’s property, Charlie is kept in a fully enclosed yard. Only when he leaves it would Charlie need to wear a muzzle and be kept on a lead of no more than three feet.

“The safety of the people in this town is first,” Select Board member Jess Aptowitz said. “We can’t have residents being bitten. That’s not acceptable.”