COEUR d'ALENE - After the 3-year-old girl went to pet the dog, it snapped at her. When she slipped in surprise, it jumped on her and began biting and ripping at her face.

Fortunately, Jordyn Cox is all right.

Her right eye has opened since it swelled shut after the Sunday afternoon attack, and the bite marks across her cheek are healing, as are the three stitches in her cheek and one on her right hand.

"I just started crying," said the girl's mother, Jewel Matthews, when she learned of the attack while at work that afternoon. "I just started bawling because I couldn't see her eye, I couldn't see nothing but blood."

The attack happened at?Finucane Park in Hayden, where dogs are prohibited, just like all of Hayden's parks.

But the 5-year-old boxer dog was there, tied by the leash to a garbage can with its caregivers, not the owner, nearby.

Now, the girl's grandmother, Rhonda Stanton, wants the dog to be put down. But Kootenai County Animal Control said that likely won't happen. And the best method for enforcing dog violations in parks where they aren't allowed is educating owners that they don't belong.

"We need those dogs out of those parks," Stanton said. "Period. We should not have dogs in human parks. What else could happen?"

Jordyn was with her babysitter, Audrey Wilson, 11, and Wilson's family at the park when they came across the boxer tied to the garbage can around 2:45 p.m. The startled dog lunged at Audrey, but was pulled back by the tied-up leash. When Jordyn saw the dog, she asked if she could pet it. Audrey told her no, but said the caregiver said it was all right. Jordyn held out her hand and the dog nipped at it. Jordan slipped on gravel, fell, and the dog sprang on her.

Animal control is investigating whether the dog should be deemed vicious, and the report hasn't been turned it yet.

"It scared the bejesus out of me," Audrey said.

The caregiver pulled the dog off, and Jordyn was rushed to Kootenai Medical Center, where she received four stitches and antibiotics. Her hand has since developed an infection, Matthews said.

The dog's owner was cited for harboring a dog with vicious propensities, a misdemeanor infraction, said Karen Williams, Kootenai County animal control officer, and the dog wasn't vaccinated for rabies or licensed in the city. It's currently quarantined at the Post Falls Animal Shelter to be sure it isn't infected with disease.

If the dog is deemed vicious, its owners will have to follow certain guidelines to keep it, such as hang signs, buy special liability insurance and keep it muzzled outside their property.

Putting down dogs is usually the last resort, Williams said.

"It depends on viciousness of the attack, but it's extremely hard," she said, adding the boxer owner agreed to pay the victim's medical bills and has cooperated with the investigation.

Just twice in the last several years have officers put down vicious dogs, and those were pit bulls, repeat attackers whose same owner was non-compliant to the department's requests. Dogs that have drawn human blood once don't develop a taste for it, either, Williams said.

But at the very least, the victim's family said, enforce existing rules to keep dogs out of city parks.

Over stimulation from overcrowded parks can play tricks on otherwise docile dogs, so officers should crack down on those who bring their pets anyway, they said.

"When dogs get to the park where there's a whole lot of people, they take on whole new personalities," Stanton said.

With only three officers for the county, enforcement can be difficult. Easier is letting people know the rules exist so pet owners can enforce it themselves.

"You have codes and laws, and you'd love to see more enforcement," said Stefan Chatwin, Hayden city administrator. "But it's a matter of educating the public. We don't have animal control officers who can be everywhere at once."

Williams said officers issue around 40 warnings for dogs in parks compared to writing around 10 citations a year. Usually the complaints are grievances with the filth dogs leave behind rather than potential danger, and owners take them away once they're told the rules. Compare those numbers to nearly 400 citations county officers issue each year for dogs at large.

Still, Jordyn is set to begin school with her face marked up from the attack. The girl is keeping her spirits up, and doesn't distrust all dogs right now. But at the same time her mother said doctors couldn't be sure if her daughter won't develop vision problems from the attack in the future.