A 59-year-old Chatham woman was fined $1,500 on Wednesday in connection to her aggressive dog attacking a 54-year-old Chatham man last July.

The woman, who appeared in Provincial Offences Court, was convicted of one count of being the owner of a dog, that did not exercise reasonable precautions to prevent the dog from attacking a person, under the Dog Owners’ Liability Act, according to a media release from Pet and Wildlife Rescue.

According to details provided regarding the incident, the male victim was walking with a cane on Gray Street in Chatham on July 20, 2018. While passing a house, a male American bulldog was able to pull a motorized wheelchair onto the sidewalk.

This resulted in the victim suffering a dog bite on his right wrist.

“The victim in this matter suffered a fractured bone in his forearm and underwent surgery,” stated the release. “Currently, the male is still undergoing treatment as a result of the dog bite.”

Jason Hamm, manager of animal control services, said the dog was euthanized.

He said the dog was surrendered by the owner two days after the incident. It completed a Chatham-Kent Public Health quarantine and was humanely euthanized after that.

Hamm said it is OK to own an aggressive dog, but owners need to “make sure you take reasonable precautions with that dog for the interest of public safety.”

Always keep an eye on your dog is the No. 1 precaution, he said.

“If you know your dog is aggressive try and keep it in your backyard or close to you on walks,” Hamm said.

He also wouldn’t recommend bringing it to a dog park if it is aggressive.

Having a muzzle on an aggressive dog is advisable, and make sure the animal has a collar that’s securely attached, Hamm said.

He added using a harness on an aggressive dog is your best bet.

In the case of the dog involved in this incident, Hamm said in a previous interview the high level of aggression it showed left no other choice but to humanely euthanize the animal.

He said dogs in this situation go through a “safer test,” which gauges the animal for levels of aggression towards people, food, toys and other dogs.

Hamm previously said that generally some levels of aggression can be trained or worked out of a dog.

“But the dog in this scenario failed the tests quite a bit,” he said.

“How often a dog fails (the test) the way the dog in question did, it’s very, very rare,” he added. “This was the first time I’ve personally seen a dog fail every portion of the test.”

eshreve@postmedia.com