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Dog bites jogger near Gulfport beach

By JON WILSON
Published August 24, 2005

GULFPORT - Visiting from Maryland, Karen Eckert was jogging Thursday along Shore Boulevard when an unleashed dog ran from the beach and bit her on the left leg.

A man left with the dog without offering proof that it had been inoculated against rabies.

As a result, Eckert, 57, purchased $1,300 worth of antirabies serum when she returned to her Burtonsville, Md., home. She received her first shots Monday. The series of about eight shots will continue over 28 days, Eckert said Tuesday.

Eckert and her friend Betsy Wright, a Gulfport resident, want the owner and the dog identified, if only to protect potential future victims. "I couldn't tell the breed," Eckert said. "It seemed to have a pointed face, although all I saw were pointed teeth. It wasn't an old dog. It had all its teeth."

Wright said she thought the dog resembled a chow. It was medium sized with a reddish coat, they said.

Eckert suffered two puncture wounds, which she later had treated at a clinic. She also received a tetanus shot.

Eckert said the dog rushed 30 to 40 yards from the edge of Boca Ciega Bay to the sidewalk where she was running.

"The man was saying, "Just stand still. This dog doesn't bite,' " she said. After it did, Eckert pretended to throw something at the dog and it ran away.

As the man tried to control the dog, it snapped at him several times, she said. Eckert said the man spoke with an accent, possibly English or Irish.

A report was filed with Gulfport police and Pinellas County Animal Services.

Eckert said she might continue the shots even if the dog is identified and proven to have been inoculated. The injections are no longer delivered in the abdomen.

If she were ever bitten again, she would just have to get a booster shot after receiving the initial series, Eckert said.

A runner for about 25 years, Eckert said the incident will make her more cautious. She said she would also carry a cell phone from now on. When she ducked into a nearby tavern and asked to use a phone, the bartender was initially reluctant to let her, she said.

[Last modified August 24, 2005, 01:15:20]