NORWALK, OHIO - Venice Schmidt has her dog, a boxer-labrador mix, for security reasons. She considers Jethro to be friendly and playful.

"The dog warden came up to him and he was all over him so beautiful," Schmidt said.

The dog bit a 7-year-old neighbor on the back of her leg about 6:40 p.m. Wednesday. While Norwalk Police Officer Melissa McNally said in her report the injury left a "golf ball-sized bite," Schmidt said "it looked like a nip" when she saw the injury in a photograph.

"He nipped her," the Grove Avenue woman said.

The girl's mother and her daughter were walking north on Grove Avenue when the incident occurred.

"(Jethro) never broke the line," said Schmidt, disputing the mother's claim in McNally's report that the grayish black dog broke its chain and chased after the girl.

McNally, in her report, also said Jethro was "hooked on what appeared to be a clothes line" when she came to Schmidt's house after the biting incident.

"He's on a dog run next to my house. ... He never broke the line," Schmidt said.

McNally had Schmidt's husband walk the dog along the dog run, noting it allowed Jethro "to reach over the far side of the sidewalk." The officer determined the 7-month-old dog was properly licensed and was up to date on its shots.

"The girl was in my yard and her mother and father were 150 yards away from her," Schmidt said.

"When we saw her out front, she was by herself," the woman added.

By the time McNally arrived and saw the girl's injury, the officer said it already had started to bruise.

"There were obvious signs of broken skin," McNally wrote in her report.

Schmidt agreed with McNally's assessment that the girl "got scared (and) began waving her arms everywhere, which made the dog excited." The officer was told by Schmidt that "the dog is playful and commonly jumps on people."

Schmidt said the girl wasn't doing anything to upset Jethro, whom she says hadn't bitten anybody earlier.

"He was excited. ... He was jumping, wagging his tail," she said.

Police have had Schmidt quarantine Jethro, meaning Schmidt and her husband have to keep the dog inside and when he's outside for a walk, the dog must be on a chain/leash until April 24. The girl's mother couldn't be reached for comment Friday.

McNally, in her report, refers to Jethro as pit bull and said Schmidt "stated the police department has been down to her house for her dog being loose on two or three separate occasions."

Schmidt said both of those statements are incorrect. My dog is not a pit bull," she said, noting that people passing her 57 Grove Ave. home could be fearful now, given the breed's reputation.

"He is a boxer-lab mix. That's exactly what it says on his papers," Schmidt said.

"If he has any pit bull in him at all, it's so little you can't tell," she said, quoting the dog warden, who couldn't be reached for comment Friday.

Schmidt said the police have "never" been to her house about Jethro being loose. There are no Norwalk Municipal Court records or charges for Schmidt or her husband.

She noted that two neighborhood boys, ages 6 and 10, play with the dog every day as does a 4-year-old girl.

Jethro even has a "girlfriend," Schmidt said with a chuckle. The female dog is her mother's and father's pure-bred golden Labrador that lives on Parsons Street.

Schmidt said it's fairly amusing to see the two dogs playing together since Jethro's "girlfriend" weighs about 110 pounds. Jethro weighs more than half that much between 40 and 50 pounds.

"He thinks she's just awesome," Schmidt said. He's a nice and lovable dog," her husband Rick said.