“You have provoked bites, and you have unprovoked,” Hart explained.

The dog, Kujo, which is confined to a fenced-in area, has not been a problem before, and animal control has not received complaints about the canine, she said.

“The dog could have felt threatened and bit her,” Hart said.

The attack took place in an area of the county zoned agriculture. Hart said Thomas County law allows dog to roam free in agriculturally zoned areas.

According to a Thomas County Sheriff’s Office incident report, the dog is owned by Gail Tillman, who told the Times-Enterprise Wednesday she did not want to comment about the incident.

According to the report, Tillman told a deputy the child “swatted” at the dog, “but never made contact when the dog attacked her.”

Hanna’s father said his daughter has been afraid to sleep alone since the attack. She insists on sleeping with her parents.

Thomas County’s animal control ordinance defines a dangerous animal as one that inflicts a severe injury on a human being or domesticated animal without provocation on public or private property at any time after March 31, 1989.

The ordinance continues: “An animal shall not be a dangerous animal or potentially dangerous animal within the meaning of this article if the injury inflicted by the animal was sustained by a person, who, at the time, was committing a willful trespass or other tort or was tormenting, abusing or assaulting the animal or had in the past been observed or reported to have tormented, abused or assaulted the animal or was committing or attempting to commit a crime.”

Thomas County government contracts with the humane society for animal control.

Hanna is a student at Cross Creek Elementary School. “Kids at school are calling her scarface,” said her father, an officer at Valdosta State Prison.

The Thomasville plastic surgeon who treated Hanna after the attack will see her again May 25.

Mr. Cannon has contacted a lawyer about the family’s need to recoup medical expenses resulting from the attack.

The family has medical insurance through Mrs. Cannon’s job as a cafeteria worker at Balfour School for Young Children, but the insurance will pay only 70 percent of Hanna’s medical bills.

The child will require plastic surgery on her face after the May checkup and again in 10 to 15 years, her father said.