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Rio Rancho Police Capt. Andrew Rodriguez said the 3-year-old boy was bitten in the 4700 block of 27th Avenue on the evening of Feb. 25. The child received serious injuries to his face, but was doing better as of the last update police received, Rodriguez said Friday.

The current ordinance sets some rules for dealing with biting dogs, but doesn’t define violations or penalties.

“The ordinance as it exists right now is confusing and difficult for animal control officers to interpret and enforce,” Lauer said.

It also tasked the municipal court with determining what to do with a vicious, dangerous or potentially dangerous dog, but decisions on personal property, which includes dogs by state law, are outside the jurisdiction of municipal courts, according to city information.

Rodriguez said the dog owners still had the dog at their house. The animal didn’t belong to the family of the injured boy.

Police and Rio Rancho Animal Control were still investigating and had initiated a court process to either seize the dog or place restrictions on it, he said.

If the proposed amendments had been in place with new definitions, the dog-bite incident would be a lot easier to handle, Rodriguez said. As it is, he said officers are trying to follow the existing law, serve the public well and make sure such a situation doesn’t happen again.

Proposed rules

Under the amendments, the police chief or his designee determines the level of risk a dog poses, and the owner can appeal the decision.

Amendments define a vicious dog as one that attacked a person or domesticated animal without provocation and caused serious injury. It must be put down, according to the changes.

A potentially dangerous dog is defined as one injuring a human or domesticated animal in a way other than biting, chasing or menacing people or animals without provocation or behaving aggressively inside a yard with apparent ability to jump out, according to amendments. A dangerous dog would be one that bit a person or domesticated animal without rising to the level of a vicious dog.

Owners would have to follow a list of handling requirements to keep a dog deemed dangerous or potentially dangerous. If the dog stopped exhibiting the problematic behavior for three years with a potentially dangerous designation or five years with a dangerous designation, the owner could ask the designation and requirements to be lifted.

A dog that bit while protecting itself, its offspring, a person or another domesticated animal; responding to pain; being tormented; or biting a trespasser, someone who had previously abused it or someone committing or trying to commit a crime cannot be designated as dangerous or potentially dangerous. Dogs being used for law enforcement are also exempt.

Penalties for violations of dog-handling rules range from a $35 fine for the first offense to a $500 fine, 90 days in jail and seizure of the animal for a fourth or subsequent offense.

Other matters

In other business, governing body members:

• Approved a zone change for about 19 acres next to Cleveland High School from mixed use and open space to R4, which is high-density housing.

• Amended the Impact Fee Capital Improvement Plan to include the intersection of Broadmoor Boulevard and Idalia Road. That way, the city can grant impact fee credits to developers who improve the intersection while building in the area, said Development Services Director Anthony Caravella.

• Elected Councilor Bob Tyler as deputy mayor, as former Deputy Mayor Dawnn Robinson is resigning.

• Wrote off uncollectible accounts in ambulance and utility billing.

• Approved beer and wine liquor licenses for Sushi King/Taste of Thai restaurant and Kyoto Sushi and Steak House. Both eateries already had liquor licenses but are under new ownership.