Nervous residents around Meade Park can breathe easier three days after the Daily Progress reported that a loose pit bull had attacked a woman walking on Fairway Avenue on Sunday. She was bitten, it seems, just not randomly.

“It was a false report,” says Charlottesville Animal Control Officer Bobby Durrer. “It was her own dog.”

According to Durrer, the woman, who reportedly suffered minor injuries and had said she would be receiving rabies shots, called him yesterday after she saw the story in the Progress to tell the truth. Durrer says there’s no record that her dog, a pit bull, has ever bitten anyone else. Durrer also believes it’s up-to-date on its vaccines. However, the woman, Durrer says, does have a history of allowing it to roam.

Durrer says he spent time looking for the dog up and down Fairway and Caroline avenues following the incident. Now, he says, the dog’s owner could be charged with filing a false report.

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