‘The public is frustrated’ - What can be done about loose dogs as area residents suffer vicious attacks

In Teresa Hart’s Harrison Twp. home is the collar of the dog that attacked her. It reads: “Sorry that I got out!”

Hart was home when a neighbor’s dog charged into her backyard and attacked her Labrador retriever in September.

Hart said this dog was often running loose in her neighborhood. But when Hart ran to her backyard to break up the incident, her neighbor’s dog turned on her.

After her husband intervened and the dog ran away, Hart was rushed to the hospital, where she had to receive a rabies vaccine and was treated for bite wounds. Her pet also needed treatment to repair gashes in her neck.

Hart is one of hundreds of people in Montgomery County alone bit by a dog in 2024, according to Montgomery County Animal Resource Center data.

Dog attack victims this year include a child severely mauled and a female jogger bit by a pack of loose dogs in Springfield in February; and a 60-year-old man seriously injured in Dayton the same month. In March, Dayton police shot and killed a loose dog that charged an officer responding to a report of a 22-year-old man bit by a dog, according to the Dayton Police Department.

And the problem of loose dogs is reportedly growing — partially because of economic pressures — leading lawmakers and community leaders to seek solutions, a Dayton Daily News investigation found. But humane solutions are elusive.

“Someone needs to do what needs to be done to get the problem taken care of,” Hart said. “If there‘s no ramifications, there will be no compliance.”

‘You cannot build your way out’

Shelters throughout the region say they’re consistently over capacity and have limited kennel space to contain loose dogs in their communities, and they’re seeing more dogs that don’t appear to be lost, but abandoned.

Montgomery County officials are working to address loose dog complaints through education and population control via spay and neuter services — but expanding shelter space or adding another shelter location is not a part of their strategy.

“No single shelter can accommodate the vast number of lost and stray dogs in Montgomery County, where approximately 140,000 dogs reside. Expanding shelter capacity is not the solution,” said Montgomery County Animal Resource Center director and dog warden Amy Bohardt. “Shelters that expand have increased staffing, veterinarian and construction costs while space remains limited. You cannot build your way out of this problem.”

Credit: Bryant Billing

Shelter officials say they have the capacity to safely house 80 dogs, but they’re consistently 20 or more over that number. Bohardt said this capacity total is to ensure a safe experience for both animals coming into shelter care and for shelter staff.

Since 2020, ARC has received and responded to more than 40,000 calls for service.

Last year, the resource center received 9,304 calls for service, but its total intake for the year was 1,564 dogs, according to its annual report. Bohardt said a majority of dogs coming into shelter care — 53% — are from Dayton.

Animal intake has declined steadily over the past 10 years, with more than 4,800 dogs coming through the shelter in 2015. ARC changed its policy in recent years to only take in dogs when necessary, counseling people who find non-dangerous stray dogs to hold onto them or house them elsewhere while seeking a forever home.

“While we do pick up strays, our goal is to keep pets and people together, with impoundment as a last resort,” said Bohardt. “If a dog is reported in distress, we assess the situation, provide education when appropriate and take action if the animal is at risk.”

Rescues stretched thin

Bohardt said shelters often collaborate with local animal rescues, many of which operate as volunteer-based nonprofits with limited budgets and manpower.

But these rescues, too, are struggling with kennel capacity and feeling the pressure of increased lost, stray and abandoned dogs, Bohardt said.

Kristen Knight, the founder of Adopt-A-Pit rescue, said her foster home network can house 150-200 dogs. Her nonprofit is consistently working with shelters and other rescues to house dogs and prepare them for adoption.

“The public is frustrated,” Knight said. “There‘s no place for these dogs to go.”

What she‘s seen over the past two years is a stark contrast from the early pandemic years — people were at home and a little lonely, and rescues and shelters were emptying out as people chose to add dogs to their families.

Knight said her organization saw record adoptions during that time. But then pandemic lockdown was lifted, and people began returning to work. Still others came across financial challenges they’ve struggled to bounce back from.

“Now we‘re moving back to the opposite extreme. We‘re getting constant requests, on top of the stray dog problem, for people to surrender their dogs,” she said.

Knight said she constantly sees posts on social media on local lost dog Facebook pages where dogs appear to have been dumped.

Dogs without homes can suffer from extreme heat, cold and other threats when unsheltered. But loose animals in the region also present a public health and safety issue to the general public, Knight said.

“Having packs of stray dogs running down the street in Dayton isn’t the solution,” Knight said. “There has to be a place for the dogs to go, when they have no other place to go. There‘s no other option.”

Dog attacks

The Dayton Police Department has responded to several calls about dog bites this year, with one involving a 60-year-old man who was attacked by several dogs on Kensington Avenue.

The Ohio Department of Health estimates that roughly 75% of all animal bites reported annually in the state are related to dogs. Ohioans are asked to report dog bites to their local health department.

Bohardt said Montgomery County ARC is not made aware of every dog bite report made locally. On top of that, some dog bites are unreported altogether. But 357 dog bites in 2024 were flagged to ARC. By the end of March this year, ARC was aware of more than 80 dog bite reports.

“When a bite is reported to ARC, we investigate to ensure compliance with Ohio law and provide education aimed at avoiding a bite in the future,” Bohardt said. “Safety is our top priority.”

Various enforcement measures exist under the Ohio Revised Code. This includes minor misdemeanor and misdemeanor charges; fines; vicious and dangerous designations and sometimes even criminal charges, Bohardt said.

But for the victims of dog attacks, the road to physical, financial and emotional recovery is long and difficult.

The personal impact of the attack Hart suffered is ongoing. She saw roughly $30,000 in expenses related to the attack — some of this was covered by insurance and some funding through the Ohio Crime Victims Fund, but she was still at a loss of a few thousand dollars. Part of her hand is permanently disabled, she said.

Hart said she continues to have moments where she feels anxious.

“It’s still something that’s on my mind every time I walk outside my house,” she said. “I am not afraid of dogs, and I’ve never been afraid of dogs. And I don’t think it’s the dog’s fault. People are the problem.”

Economic pressures

In Clark County, shelter manager Sandi Click said her small team has impounded 255 dogs so far this year. Even more dogs are captured on the streets and returned to their owners before they come into the shelter.

Click said many of the dogs coming into the Clark County Dog Shelter look a little different than years before: they’re clean, trained and in a good disposition — all signs that for a time, they were taken care of.

More people are calling to inquire about surrendering their pets to the shelter, too, even though the shelter doesn’t accept surrenders due to its capacity issues. Click suspects more households are parting with their pets due to economic strain, and the price increase of rental housing.

Credit: Bill Lackey

But Click has also seen an increase in aggression among some animals roaming Clark County’s streets.

Click says she‘s seeing irresponsible pet ownership in the community, with people not properly confining their animals and exercising them. People also aren’t doing research before buying a pet.

“You have the whole thing of people not understanding their breed, not understanding what they’re engineered to do, what their genetic blueprint is. Some dogs just want to run, that’s what they’re bred to do. Or they have a very high desire to chase things, that’s what they did generations ago. Don’t think they’re just going to sit quietly by your side on the porch,” Click said. “They just don’t think about the dog’s natural behavior.”

Legislative debate

Several years ago, animal welfare activists decried ARC‘s euthanasia rates and criticized the agency for euthanizing dogs quickly.

The euthanasia rate has drastically declined over the past five years, with 396 dogs euthanized last year compared to more than 2,000 in 2015.

But the issue of loose animals still persists.

“It feels like we‘ve swung in the opposite direction,” said state Rep. Phil Plummer, R-Butler Twp., and former Montgomery County sheriff.

Plummer is the chair of the Montgomery County Dog Task Force, which was formed earlier this year and includes multiple community leaders and animal welfare groups.

Credit: Bryant Billing

Plummer said he‘s working with this group to introduce legislation geared toward addressing different issues — dog kenneling and tethering, aggressive dog designations, law enforcement education and more. He said the group is also discussing how rescues can free up kennel space at ARC.

“Nobody has done this before, and it’s a really complicated issue,” he said. “You can’t address this issue with one thing.”

Previous efforts at legislation to address dangerous dogs has fallen short. Bills were repeatedly sponsored after a fatal mauling in Dayton in 2014 and another three years later, but none passed the Ohio General Assembly.

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