HAVERHILL — The City Council will hold one more committee meeting on new laws for dangerous dogs and then vote on a proposal for tougher rules and penalties in three weeks.

"Public Safety can finish the discussion from last night and come back to us in three weeks," City Council President Michael Hart said, referring to a standing-room-only meeting Monday night at City Hall that included people recently attacked by dogs, animal activists and concerned residents.

Last night, the council agreed to refer to its Public Safety Committee a proposal by Mayor James Fiorentini to regulate all breeds of dogs.

The most serious of four dog attacks in Haverhill in the last month resulted in two surgeries and 200 stitches to an 11-year-old boy who is still in the hospital.

Fiorentini's proposal would establish two categories of canines — dangerous dogs and potentially dangerous dogs. Dogs would be deemed dangerous or potentially dangerous by the city's dog officer or police chief, based on preset criteria.

A dangerous dog is defined in the proposed ordinances as a dog that has bitten, attacked or terrorized a person, or a dog that is bred for fighting or drug trafficking. A potentially dangerous dog is a canine that acts in such an aggressive manner that the dog officer believes the animal is likely to attack a person.

The proposal would give police new tools to control dangerous and potentially dangerous dogs, the mayor said. For instance, the police chief or dog officer may order the dog confined indoors or outdoors in an enclosed pen. Police may also order the dog's owner to purchase insurance in case the dog attacks and injures a person, according to the proposal. The ordinance also provides a $50 licensing surcharge for dangerous dogs.

Other measures provided in the proposal would allow police to order owners of dangerous dogs to purchase behavioral training for the dog, home signs alerting the area to the presence of a dangerous dog and microchips to monitor the animal. Penalties for not following any requirements imposed by the police chief or dog officer range from $100 to destroying the animal, the mayor said.

Fiorentini also has pledged more money to the Police Department to address dog attacks.

"If we need more people, we'll add them," Fiorentini said at the Monday meeting. He has also offered additional overtime money to the Police Department.

The city currently has full- and part-time animal control officers who respond to anywhere from 40 to 60 calls, city officials have said.

"By June, something will be in place," Councilor Mary Ellen Daly O'Brien, the mother of four children and a dog, said at the Monday meeting, referring to new, tougher city laws for dangerous dogs.

The Monday meeting also identified residents in the audience who may be able help streamline the new ordinance and look for possible dog park spots around the city, Daly O'Brien said.

Meanwhile, dog officers and health inspectors are patrolling parks and playgrounds to strictly enforce the city's leash laws, the mayor said. They will be issuing fines and warnings to people who do not leash their dogs, he said.