Top Photo Contributed/Bottom World Photo by Lou Sennick The top photo shows the damage in June 2005 to Sara Weidenhaft's upper lip and mouth, after the Greenacres woman was bitten by a dog. The bottom photo was taken Friday, March 2. Weidenhaft has spent about $60,000 so far on reconstructive surgery for her injuries. State Rep. Wayne Krieger, R-Gold Beach, is working on a bill to change state law, making dog owners responsible for medical bills of a victim the first time the animal has bitten someone.

COOS BAY - In her worst nightmares, Sara Weidenhaft is haunted by the animal's amber eyes just moments after it ripped her lips apart.

But the pain and frustration of this recurring dream doesn't end with the shrill cry of an alarm clock. It is part of every word that escapes her mangled lips, every unthinking stare from a stranger, and is now part of her undying resolve to change a state law.

Nearly 19 months ago the Greenacres resident was attacked by a Great Dane that tore off her upper lip as she leaned into a truck to hug the dog's owner.

“He bit it off,” Weidenhaft said through a small opening where her lips once were.“I didn't even know the dog was in the car until he had my lip in his mouth.” Her most recent of five reconstructive surgeries attached a portion of her bottom lip to the top of her mouth. The flesh will be separated later to form a set of more normal lips.

Shortly after the incident, Weidenhaft, who did not press charges against the owners or try to have the dog put down, learned that in Oregon, the owner of a normally friendly dog is not liable for civil or punitive damages if the animal makes a first-time attack. The dog's owner, who was a friend of Weidenhaft's, paid $5,000 through her insurance company, but she was not required to do so.

While Weidenhaft had medical insurance to cover the brunt of five reconstructive surgeries, she does not believe she should be the one paying for the damage, and she is not alone.

“So far my surgeries are in excess of $66,000 and I'm still not fixed,” Weidenhaft, 52, told lawmakers Feb. 8 at a public hearing in Salem for House Bill 2345. The new dog-bite measure, proposed by Rep. Wayne Krieger, R-Gold Beach, would place the responsibility of medical expenses in a dog owner's lap. It would preserve other defenses available to an owner, such as provocation of the dog.

“If a kid puts a ball through somebody's window - an inanimate object with no feelings - the parents have to pay for the window. If a dog comes into my pasture and kills one of my sheep, not only can I kill the dog, but if I can find the dog's owner, I can collect up to three times the value of the sheep. But, if a dog bites my lip off, I have to pay? Something isn't right with this picture,” Weidenhaft said.

Oregon, along with more than a dozen other “first-bite” states, never altered dog-bite laws that were carried to this country by 16th-century English immigrants, Krieger said.

“I think it's long overdue,” Krieger said. “What we are doing now would make you liable for the medical costs on the first bite and economic loss.

“I think it's kind of self-evident that a person (who) receives injury from a dog bite, that the owner needs to be responsible for the actions of the dog.”

Weidenhaft began communicating with Krieger in the fall of 2006, and after some research, Krieger decided she had a valid point. He later filed his proposal as a pre-session committee bill, and expects it to be amended by today or Wednesday and may be in front of the judiciary committee by Friday.

“Passing this bill cannot help Sara, but she hopes that the passage of this bill will help protect children and others who are victim of dog bites,” he told legislators at the hearing.

He said he is concerned that a poor family whose child is attacked by a dog may not be able to afford reconstructive surgery, and wants to prevent such a tragedy from occurring.

“There has to be someone to pick up the medical costs. If it involves children, those children might need the same type of operation that Sara does. Not many (young families) have $50,000, $60,000, or $70,000 for reconstructive surgery.”

A bookkeeper at FarWest Tire Factory in Coos Bay, a business co-owned by her husband Ted, Weidenhaft has become a cracker-barrel pundit, spending time at the store telling locals her cautionary tale. An animal lover with a ranch at her home outside of Greenacres, she said she has never felt hate for the dog who hurt her. She does not own a dog but said she would like to one day.

“I wanted to make sense of it, so I started out on my own self-made campaign to educate people that our dogs are not our family members. They are a reactive animal and you don't know, even if you think you do, what they will do on any given circumstance,” Weidenhaft said.

Weidenhaft said the owner of the Great Dane was startled when she leaned in for a hug and believes it responded to its mistress's reaction.

Sitting with his wife at the store, Ted Weidenhaft said dealing with the her injury and the impacts it has made on their lives has been difficult, but together they are working through it.

“We learn to take life as it comes. We both take things in stride and we go on with life,” he said.

“He still loves me no matter how ugly I am,” Weidenhaft added, noting they will celebrate their 31st anniversary this month.

For many, a first glimpse at Weidenhaft can be a bit shocking, but her earnest green eyes and way of making light of her gruesome injury often sets customers and acquaintances at ease. Not that her disfigurement is any less of a burden. Recalling a run-in with a former classmate at a grocery store, Weidenhaft said she then realized how insensitive and unthinking people can be.

“I met her in an aisle at the grocery store and she said to me ‘I didn't remember you as being a harelip,'” Weidenhaft said, her eyes quickly tearing up as she relived the conversation. “I said to her, ‘Well, I wasn't until a dog bit my lip off,' and she physically took a step backwards.”

Her mouth will never look exactly as it once did, nor will her life ever be the same. But Weidenhaft's dearest hope is that future surgeries will even out her features and her speech.

“I want to be able to speak clearly so that I don't have to be creative with the way I word things; so that I don't have to (avoid using) letters I have difficulty enunciating,” Weidenhaft said. “I want to look normal.”

“I knew one (surgery) wasn't going to fix it, but each one of these steps is like taking several steps backward. I had no idea that I would be having a sixth, or a seventh or an eighth surgery.”

Rep. Arnie Roblan, D-Coos Bay, supports a change to the dog-bite law. At the hearing, he said current legislation is antiquated and should be amended.

“Many states have now made the decision to change this and recognize that owners of dogs have a responsibility, and this bill just extends that responsibility to paying the medical bills of people,” Roblan said.

Representatives from State Farm Insurance and the Property Casualty Insurers Association are concerned a change would mean higher premiums and other potential problems for dog owners.

Shawn Miller, a lobbyist for the association, which includes more than 200 property casualty insurance companies in Oregon, said each insurance agency has a different policy regarding dogs and dog bites. Most will alter coverage after a dog has attacked. Changes may include charging a higher premium, asking a homeowner to find a new home for the animal, declining to renew a policy, or excluding the dog from coverage. If the house bill passes, the companies may implement one of these four items prior to insuring a homeowner with a dog. A homeowners insurance policy might cover expenses incurred by a dog bite because most bites occur on the dog owner's property.

“If you go to a strict liability standard, then you are going to find more and more companies doing those four items,” Miller said.

Jeff Aeschliman, a spokesman for State Farm Insurance, said he and the company are not necessarily opposed to the dog-bite bill. But lawmakers should know a change to the law could mean a change in insurance coverage for pet owners.

State Farm Insurance is one of the largest insurers of cars and homes in Oregon. It insures one in four homes and one in five cars in the state, Aeschliman said.

“When it comes to dogs and State Farm, we are very firm believers in responsible pet ownership,” Aeschliman said. “This bill eliminates the defense of foreseeability. If you are going to expand dog-bite liability, then simply allow insurance companies to underwrite and rate accordingly for that increased risk.”

As is written, the bill does not discuss insurance policies.

Weidenhaft, who will be going in for another surgery this month, said the passage of the dog bite bill won't erase painful memories or the staggering medical bills, but it may prevent financial suffering for future dog bite victims in the state.

“I've been a victim to a dog. I've been a victim to a law. I can't change what the dog did, but I can change the law,” Weidenhaft said.