A 5-year-old Falmouth girl won’t have to get rabies shots after all.

The girl, who was with an adult child care provider, was bitten on the back of the neck by a dog last week on a trail not far from the Ocean Avenue dog park in Portland. The owner of the dog gave the care giver a telephone number in Vermont, but the number was not in service, said Falmouth police Lt. John Kilbride.

The girl faced a series of rabies shots if the dog could not be located to determine whether it had been vaccinated. In response to a story in the Portland Press Herald, the dog’s owner left a copy of the dog’s rabies certificate at the park where the girl’s mother had put up posters.

“The woman wrote a note on it saying, ‘I’m sorry it happened. My husband really loved the dog. We never thought about the child going through rabies shots,’ ” Kilbride said.

The certificate had the owner’s name blacked out.

Kilbride said officers were able to figure out the name of the dog’s owner anyway.

“We held it up to the light,” Kilbride said.

Police issued a court summons to Alison Slattery, 25, of Kidder Street in Portland for the charge of keeping a dangerous dog. The charge was based on the incident and the initial deceit, Kilbride said. She is due in court Dec. 13. The charge is a civil infraction with a fine, if convicted, of between $250 and $1,000.

The dog, Deoge, is a 46-pound pit bull-Labrador retriever mix, Kilbride said. The dog will be kept in quarantine for 10 days in the house and if it leaves, must wear a muzzle, Kilbride said.