Fox Point Resident Gets Dog Bite Quarantine Ordinance Changed

When Greg Ollman and his grandaughter walked his son's two dogs in Fox Point, they had no idea that a summer stroll down Indian Creek Parkway would leave their dogs in a law-mandated, 10-day quarantine.

“We were walking down the street, with our dogs on leashes, when two smaller dogs from a neighbors’ house charged out at us, barking,” said Ollman, a retired Milwaukee County sheriff's deputy. “They weren’t chained up and ran over 170 feet to get to us.”

Naturally, Ollman said, his son’s dogs moved over to protect himself and his 2-year-old granddaughter from the other dogs. During the altercation, one of the labs grabbed a hold of the other, smaller, unleashed dogs by the neck, but did not puncture or break the skin.

Once the dogs were separated, Ollman was left with a bite on his left arm and the other man involved with the smaller dogs received a scrape on his hand from one of Ollman’s son’s dogs.

Due to the dog bites and human injuries, police followed village ordinance and the two dogs, one from each pair, were quarantined and monitored by a vet for rabies symptoms.

However, knowing his dog had up-to-date rabies vaccinations, Ollman thought the rule seemed very outdated and unfair.

Seeking change, resident gets to work

After learning that no other North Shore community still adhered to this old, non-home quarantine rule for vaccinated animals, Ollman in July asked the Village Board to consider changing the law.

Ollman also enlisted the help of a couple of veterinarians who agreed that the rule should be changed, including Barbara A. Rossi of Fox Point’s Mobile Vet Care business.

"In most cases where a dog bites a human, it’s not the case of a rabid animal and may have just been a child that fell on or startled an older dog," Rossi said. “And for some, it's a real hardship on the owner and not to mention the undue stress on the dog.”

Ollman said the kenneling was so hard on one of his son's dogs, that it lost his bark and still isn’t back to 100 percent – he believes the dog was very disconcerted and likely barked all night every night while kenneled.

When the received Ollman’s letter requesting the change, trustees sent it to to get his input. Czaja agreed that a change was warranted and then passed along his wishes that the ordinance be changed to Village Attorney Eric Larson.

Attorney investigates state and local laws

During his own investigation into surrounding communities’ laws, Larson found that a state statute already existed that allowed dogs to stay at home for their quarantine after a bite as long as there is proof of vaccination.

“The state law deals with this extensively, so all Fox Point did was adopt (and change their ordinance to match) state law,” he said.

Revised law is now in place

The Village Board approved a new ordinance Aug. 9 that says pets that have bitten a human or another pet can now remain at home during the mandatory 10-day quarantine period as long as recent rabies vaccination can be proven.

“It just didn’t seem right that no matter what - even if the dog had its shots - it had to be kenneled like that,” Ollman said. “My son’s dogs were up-to-date, so why would it have to go that far?”

In all, with the 10-day quarantine and regular checkups by vets during that time, Ollman said the whole incident wound up costing close to $400.

In the end, Ollman is satisfied with the change, but still wishes the incident had never occurred in the first place.

“My granddaughter still won’t walk over there anymore – it was very traumatic for her,” he said. “I’m happy it has been changed and now others won’t have to go through what we did.”