Dog bite is only an overly friendly scratch

A dog bite July 16 in Marion turned out to be only a minor scratch that needed no treatment beyond having the wound cleaned.

Interim Police Chief Zach Hudlin said the dog hadn’t behaved aggressively toward the man who was bitten. The man had walked to a neighbor’s fence to pet the dog, which ran over and jumped up on the fence to greet him.

In the process, the dog’s tooth scraped the man near his right clavicle.

The dog’s owners provided proof that the dog was current on its rabies vaccine.

The man went to St. Luke Hospital to have the wound looked at and was told nothing more than wound cleaning was needed.

He told hospital staff he didn’t want police notified, but the hospital notified police as required by law after the man went home, Hudlin said.

“He thought we were going to impound the dog or maybe put the dog down,” Hudlin said.