SCHENECTADY — The city's two full time animal control officers and police will increase patrols, and warning signs outlining rules at the dog park will soon be posted on the grounds after two separate dog attacks, both involving the same aggressive animal, within two weeks of each other this month and last.

At Monday's City Council committee meeting, City Council President Ed Kosiur apologized to Kaitlyn Graham, who was bitten on the leg inside Central Park on April 21. He also assured the teen and her mother, Robyn Lawyer, that the city would do all it can to ensure the park is safe. He said the new signs would go up within the next week or so.

Kosuir also noted Police Chief Eric Clifford, who walks his dog in Central Park, "really made a commitment to enforcement" in the dog park, but for it to be effective it would have to be a sustained effort.

Councilman Vince Riggi said he's seen it all too often where people have their dogs on a leash and then let them run loose when they get to the park. City law requires the animals be kept on a leash.

"There's many dog owners that are responsible, but there are many that are irresponsible and that's what becomes the problem, " added Riggi.

He also urged the governing body to consider converting the old tennis courts in Hillhurst Park in the Bellevue neighborhood into a dog park.

Councilman John Polimeni said the patrols need to be during non-peak hours.

Councilwoman Leesa Perazzo recalled in a phone interview how during a recent Saturday walk in the park she recoiled at spotting at least three large dogs off their leash outside the dog park.

"We don't have any rules right now posted at the dog park and I think we need to have rules posted," Perazzo said, adding she would also like to look at the number of dogs any one person can bring to the dog park. She said she's heard of instances where people bring several dogs to the dog park and take them on a leash as the law requires into the car one at a time, sometimes leaving the others unattended.

Outside Monday's meeting, Graham, 19, recalled how she had been in the dog park for about an hour with her rottweiler, Kayto, when a woman arrived with two pit bull puppies and a third larger dog. She said the dogs didn't look mean or appear to be aggressive but that all changed when Kayto started sniffing one of the pit bulls.

She said the other woman's larger dog "got on the ground and started growling and drooling so I tried to take my dog away and he just jumped up and attacked my dog, so I was in the mix because I was holding my dog's collar and her dog latched onto my leg and then I fell on the ground."

She said the woman was yelling at Graham to get her dog and Graham was yelling back. Then she blacked out for a few seconds and looked up from the ground to see the woman holding Kayto by the collar.

"Then I got up off the ground and my friend put the leash on my dog and took him from her and we went out and called 9-1-1." She said that that the woman remained in the dog park even after police responded and left.

Graham, who said she was bitten at least once and has puncture wounds on her knees, is expected to make a full recovery.

Police said the same dog attacked again, this time biting a 13-year-old boy outside the dog park at 3:15 p.m. on May 3. He was taken to the hospital.

The dogs' owner, Selena Rahm, 22, was charged by the city animal control officers with five dangerous dog counts and three counts of owning and harboring unlicensed dogs, police said. On Tuesday, Sgt. Jeff McCutcheon, a city police spokesman, said Rahm will also face an additional dangerous dog count in connection with the second incident. Her dogs were impounded and will remain in custody pending the outcome of the case's investigation, McCutcheon said.

On Tuesday, Tom Carey was among the dog lovers who took advantage of the glorious sunshine to walk his mixed-breed rescue dog inside Central Park just beyond the dog park.

"The dog park is not the problem, it's wonderful. It's just that people need to be responsible for their dog and kids," he said.

Inside the dog park, all the dog owners agreed with Carey. Meanwhile, Kim Stergas, of Niskayuna, lamented a problem not related to canines: How people sometimes casually drop off their young children and either leave or watch them from a parked car or nearby bench while on their cell phones.

Ben White's three large mastiffs and two huskies were among a dozen dogs of various sizes and breeds running around the dog park.

"The owners got these dogs and they're not training them. They're not doing nothing, and then they come to the park and expect the dog to act like a regular person, but that's not how it is because dogs have to be socialized," said White, also of Niskayuna, who brings his dogs to the park twice a day, just about every day.

He explained that the dog park protocol is for the owner to unleash the dog(s) once they enter the main double gated area.

City Council members will revisit the issue later this month.