Last modified: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 1:29 AM EST Bitten teen no foe of dog park in Foxboro BY FRANK MORTIMER SUN CHRONICLE STAFF FOXBORO - A 17-year-old high school senior from Plainville was the person bitten earlier this month at the Foxboro Dog Park, and is nearing the end of a series of rabies shots as an outpatient at Caritas Norwood Hospital. But Edmund Jones Jr., a co-captain this past season on the Warriors football team at King Philip Regional High School, said he is not a foe of the controversial dog park. "I do love going to the dog park, but I don't want to favor either side," Jones said Tuesday. Jones said he was at the park with his girlfriend and her dog Feb. 10, and was bitten when he tried to break up a fight between it and another dog. He expressed concern that a perception that a child was bitten might jeopardize the park's survival. Opposing sides in a battle over the survival of the dog park, which opened in 2006, might tug Jones' account of the biting incident into the fray. Debbie Cunniff, a co-founder of the dog park, said she told Jones he might be subpoenaed to give information about the biting incident in a lawsuit brought to Land Court by 17 residents seeking to close the park, which is privately run on town land at Cocasset River Park off Mill Street. Judge Keith Long last Thursday issued a preliminary injunction requiring all dogs to be leashed at the park, but agreed to the town's request to hear further evidence in a continued injunction hearing set for 11 a.m. Friday. The board of selectmen and the conservation commission are the defendants. The conservation commission padlocked the entire Cocasset River Park until further notice last Saturday in the hope of heading off confrontations between abutters and park users. In the meantime, Jones said he hopes the owners of the dog that bit him will come forward with proof the dog was vaccinated so he will not have to continue the series of about 15 rabies rabies shots over several weeks. "Nobody's ever survived rabies before, so better safe than sorry," Jones said. "I don't want to sue them. I don't want to get into any of that. I want them to come forward and say their dog is up to date" on its rabies shots and possibly have a veterinarian confirm that the animal that bit him is healthy. Cunniff said she called Jones and spoke with him last Friday night about the incident. Cunniff said she wrote down Jones's account of the incident and submitted it to Sam Perkins, the attorney defending the town in the lawsuit. "We called Eddy out of concern for his well being," Cunniff said. Jones, the son of Edmund and Anne Jones of 48 George St. in Plainville, said he and his girlfriend were at the dog park to let her 2-year-old, Siberian husky, Honor, get some off-leash exercise. He said he is very fond of the black and white husky, which has "the most beautiful blue eyes," and that he tends to refer to the pooch as his own. Jones said a yellow/orange short-haired, medium-size dog was "playing nice" off-leash with other dogs roaming in the fenced park. He said the dog was with a man and woman in their early to mid-30s, and the woman told him her dog "doesn't like huskies." "The dog started barking and growling at my dog," Jones said. Jones, who stands 6-feet, 3-inches, weighs 275 pounds and played right tackle for KP, said he attempted to ward off the other dog by hitting its head, and was bitten on his left thumb. When the woman asked if he was all right, Jones said, "Yes." He assumed the couple would stay so that he could get information about the dog, but the pair vanished, along their pet. "Literally 15 to 20 seconds, and they were gone," Jones said. On the advice of a doctor, Jones reported that night to Caritas Norwood Hospital for rabies shots, and received several. He said a doctor told him he would have to make four return visits for additional injections. During the court hearing last week, attorney Edward Valanzola, representing the residents opposed to the park, told the judge that a high school student had been bitten. The paper incorrectly reported that the biting victim was a child and that this Friday's hearing would start the trial. A trial date has yet to be set.