Toddler hospitalized after attack by pit bull

A toddler's laughter turned to screams yesterday morning in Hyde Park when she was attacked by a family pit bull, according to the girl's uncle.

The girl, who police said was 2 years old, was frolicking in her cousin's backyard on Pond Street, playfully chasing a mixed-breed dog. But when she turned her attention to the other family pet, a pit bull named Apollo, the dog bit her, said Alexis Roman, the uncle.

"She was playing and sneaked up on him, and he snapped at her," he said.

He declined to give his niece's name or the name of his son, Apollo's owner. The girl was listed in fair condition yesterday at Children's Hospital, with injuries to her face.

Roman said family members were sitting in the kitchen around 9:40 a.m. when the dog attacked, and they ran outside af ter hearing the screams. Apollo scuttled past them and into the house. "He tried to hide in my room," Roman said. "He was shaking because he knew that he had done something wrong."

Apollo was euthanized yesterday afternoon because the animal lacked required rabies tests, according to Jennifer Mehigan, a spokeswoman for Mayor Thomas M. Menino. In addition, Boston's Animal Control Department cited the dog's owner for failing to license the animal and for failing to muzzle it, as required by regulations regarding pit bulls the city enacted in 2004.

Roman , who described his niece as "about 3," said Apollo had been friendly with children and had never attacked anyone in the "couple of years" the dog lived with his family . But many residents in the area disputed that, saying the dog had terrorized the neighborhood for months.

"That dog came after me twice last year," said Edward Harkins, 78, who lives on Pond Street. "He is vicious, and there's no mistake about it."

Harkins said that last summer, he was in his front yard when he saw the dog running toward a woman walking her dog.

"It was showing his teeth and growling at her, so I grabbed my shovel and went after it," he said. "I hit it on the head, and it ran away."

Several other residents and a letter carrier also described the dog as vicious and said they have seen it loose many times.

"It looks like a little rhino, gray," said a US Postal Service carrier delivering mail on Pond Street. The carrier, who gave only his first name, John, said he has not been delivering mail to the address where the dog lived because he is afraid of the animal.

Several attacks by pit bulls over recent months have focused attention on the breed . Lawmakers on the State's Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government will hold a hearing Monday on potential new dog-control laws, including a proposal that would ban pit bulls statewide.

While lawmakers are divided over such an ordinance, several other proposals under consideration appear to have more support: providing guidelines for cities and towns to banish troublesome dogs; mandating license requirements for certain breeds; requiring training for owners of certain breeds; fining owners of noisy dogs; and seeking stricter leash laws.

State Representative Bradford Hill, a Republican from Ipswich, has proposed a bill aimed at broadening the definition of a dangerous dog as one that has attacked twice without provocation. Owners of animals deemed dangerous would face penalties.

"Sadly, something should have been done about the dog in Hyde Park, if what the residents are saying is true," he said. "But there is no need to single out this particular breed of dog and not address all the other types of dogs out there attacking people."