Dogs are abandoned and dumped frequently in Dayton, and Montgomery County Regional Dispatch Center gets hundreds of calls about dangerous animals in the Gem City every year, which includes complaints about aggressive canines.
Some people say Dayton could be doing more to deal with dog troubles in the city.
Last week, members of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church canceled their normal Wednesday night Bible study session to attend a Dayton City Commission meeting, where their pastor, Rev. Johnson, asked the city for help.
Johnson said worshipers, choir members and church staff and visitors have been scared by pit bulls and other large dogs that roam the neighborhood. The church is located at 401 S. Paul Laurence Dunbar St., two blocks south of West Third.
Johnson said visitors sometimes have been afraid to get out of their cars and walk across the parking lot to enter the church.
Johnson said when members of his church call police to report stray dogs, they are told there is nothing officers can do and they will not respond.
“We are here today to ask you as our elected officials to figure something out before somebody gets hurt or worse — dies,” Johnson told the city commission. “When I drive around Oakwood, Kettering and Englewood, I don’t see stray dogs. They don’t seem to have this problem. Other municipalities in our area seem to have figured this out.”
James Rider, a police information specialist with the Dayton Police Department, said the Montgomery County Animal Resource Center is the primary point of contact on dog-related calls.
Rider, however, said people should call the Dayton Police Department if there is an active attack or emergency situation.
The Animal Resource Center received nearly 1,650 calls about stray dogs in Dayton last year (4-5 a day), and more than half of the dogs the agency impounded in 2023 came from the city of Dayton, said Kara Hamby, public information officer with the Animal Resource Center.
Dogs from Dayton take up nearly two-thirds of the space at the Animal Resource Center, even though the city accounts for just a quarter of the county’s population, Hamby said.
“This substantially contributes to why our facility is almost always at max capacity,” she said. “Dayton is not enforcing their dog ordinances, and the rest of the county feels the repercussions of that.”
Some dogs that roam the streets are pets that escaped their homes or yards. Many lost dogs are within a mile of their home, Hamby said.
Other stray dogs were abandoned. Some owners dump their dogs because they have behavior issues or they move to places that don’t allow dogs or they feel they can no longer afford to take of the animals and pay for veterinary care.
Animal advocacy groups say there are local services and assistance available to help pet owners who are struggling so they won’t feel like they have to ditch their furry companions.
There are low-cost vet clinics, a pet food pantry and some food banks distribute pet food and supplies. Officials say taking steps to re-home pets is always better than abandoning them.
Dayton City Commissioner Shenise Turner-Sloss said city leaders have had in-depth discussions about stray dog issues in the city.
“We’re looking and trying to figure out ways of how we can increase and enforce the watch, if you will, of stray dogs that we have in the Dayton area,” she said. “More to come on that.”
Other local communities don’t have Dayton’s problems with stray dogs, but the city has high levels of poverty and economic challenges that many suburban cities do not, Turner-Sloss said.
The Montgomery County Regional Dispatch Center last year received more than 500 calls about dangerous animals in Dayton, which included calls about dogs.
The center also received 122 reports of animal bites last year — which was twice as many as in 2021, according to data from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.
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