An Island County Sheriff’s deputy was bitten by a dog while checking on an 80-year-old Greenbank woman, officials said.

The deputy was responding to a request from an I-COM dispatcher about 11 p.m. Aug. 9 to determine if the woman needed medical attention, said Lt. Evan Tingstad of the Sheriff’s Office’s South Precinct.

While he was speaking with the woman at her home, the woman’s dog, described as an Australian cattle dog, came into the room and bit the deputy on the calf of his leg, tearing his uniform and causing two puncture wounds.

The woman managed to get the dog under control and into its kennel, Tingstad said.

After determining the woman wasn’t having a medical problem, the deputy had his wound cleaned at Whidbey General Hospital in Coupeville and returned to duty, Tingstad said.

“He had a little limp, but he came back to work,” Tingstad said.

He said the deputy, a South Whidbey resident assigned to the South Precinct, declined to have his name released.

The dog was turned over to animal control, who determined that it was current in its vaccinations, and it was permitted to remain at its Greenbank home under home quarantine, according to county health department regulations, Tingstad said.

“The dog just ended up with a bad taste in its mouth,” he said.