§ 4-8-41 - Definitions - Georgia Statutes

O.C.G.A. 4-8-41 (2010)
4-8-41. Definitions

As used in this article, the term:

(1) "Dog control officer" means an individual selected by a local government pursuant to the provisions of subsection (c) of Code Section 4-8-22 to aid in the administration and enforcement of the provisions of Article 2 of this title.

(2) "Local government" means any county or municipality of this state.

(3) "Owner" means any natural person or any legal entity, including, but not limited to, a corporation, partnership, firm, or trust owning, possessing, harboring, keeping, or having custody or control of a vicious dog within this state.

(4) "Proper enclosure" means an enclosure for keeping a vicious dog while on the owner's property securely confined indoors or in a securely enclosed and locked pen, fence, or structure suitable to prevent the entry of young children and designed to prevent the dog from escaping. Any such pen or structure shall have secure sides and a secure top, and, if the dog is enclosed within a fence, all sides of the fence shall be of sufficient height and the bottom of the fence shall be constructed or secured in such a manner as to prevent the dog's escape either from over or from under the fence. Any such enclosure shall also provide protection from the elements for the dog.

(5) "Severe injury" means any physical injury that results in broken bones, disfiguring lacerations requiring multiple sutures or cosmetic surgery, or a physical injury that results in death.

(6) "Vicious dog" means any dog that inflicts a severe injury on a human being without provocation after the owner has notice that the dog has previously bitten or attacked or endangered the safety of a human being. Such term shall not include a dog that inflicts an injury upon a person when the dog is being used by a law enforcement officer to carry out the law enforcement officer's official duties. A dog shall not be a vicious dog if the injury inflicted by the dog was sustained by a person who, at the time, was committing a willful trespass or other tort or was tormenting, abusing, or assaulting the dog or had in the past been observed or reported to have tormented, abused, or assaulted the dog or was committing or attempting to commit a crime.