The change comes at a time when the Montgomery County Animal Resource Center and local animal rescues say the issue of abandoned and stray dogs in the community continues to grow.
“The point is, the dogs need a place to go,” said Kirsten Knight of Dayton-based rescue Adopt-A-Pit. “There are so many stray dogs in Dayton. These dogs deserve to have a future. It’s just a disaster waiting to happen, and it’s terrifying.”
Dayton Police Department Maj. Chris Malson said in an email to officers earlier this month that the department was working on updating its animal call policies.
“At no time is any Dayton Police Officer to take possessory control of a dog while on duty except to protect human life or further a criminal investigation,” he said in the email.
This includes snaring or putting a leash on the dog, holding it in a cruiser or bringing it back to a police facility.
“Under Ohio law dogs are considered property and we do not have the legal right to take somebody’s property, in this case a dog, and give it away to another person who is not the rightful owner of the dog,” Malson said in the email.
In 2024, Dayton police have received 698 calls for service related to animals. Through July 7, there were 426 animal calls. There have been 215 dangerous animal calls and 57 calls designated as animal bite calls. Last year, Dayton police heard 1,261 calls in these three categories, according to the police department.
Dayton police advise residents to contact the Montgomery County Animal Resource Center for animal calls.
County shelter officials say the Dayton Police Department animal calls policy should not impact its operations significantly, but the county shelter continues to be at or over capacity for kennel space.
“Managing our intake is a daily priority to us,” said Animal Resource Center director Amy Bohardt. “Even now, there are 100 dogs in here. It’s a safety hazard to the dogs in our care and to my team. Our team is working diligently to bring that back down, because we are beyond our capacity for care.”
Since 2020, the county’s Animal Resource Center has received and responded to 39,591 calls for service and impounded 7,786 lost and stray dogs.
According to Animal Resource Center call data, roughly 54.1% of calls for service came from within Dayton. Similarly, dogs impounded from Dayton take up more than half of the resource center’s kennel space.
Bohardt estimates 140,000 dogs live in Montgomery County, and the resource center only has space for 80 dogs at any given time.
Bohardt said the center prioritizes calls for service depending on the safety of people and the safety of the animal. The resource center responds to a mixture of calls: bite investigations, confinement or condition checks, stray dog complaints and other calls related to suspected animal injury, sickness or neglect.
Call data for the resource center does not represent calls for service that result in other solutions being found for the loose dog, Bohardt said.
The Animal Resource Center in a press release on Thursday said it is the official dog warden of the county and follows laws outlined in the state’s revised code related to dogs.
“In addition to our responsibility to enforce the (Ohio Revised Code), the ARC’s mission is to serve all of Montgomery County’s people and pets through effective public safety, humane animal welfare, and connecting pets to homes – whether that be reuniting them with their owner or finding them a new home,” according to the press release.
Knight said her foster-based rescue worked with Dayton police officers often — some officers who responded to animal calls would even adopt the dogs who came into their care.
She said fewer pets would be abandoned if there were more places that people could take them.
“Before COVID, you could go to the shelter and surrender a dog and pay a fee,” she said. “But everyone is full. You have to get on a waiting list. So if there’s no place to surrender to and you’re in a position where you can’t keep your dog anymore… it’s just a vicious cycle. And it’s getting worse.”
Knight also said she has worked with multiple community members who have expressed the Animal Resource Center did not help them with a stray animal before reaching out to her rescue, and she pointed to multiple social media pages dedicated to posting photos of and details about roaming animals.
Still other social media accounts post information about dogs found after being struck by cars, Knight said.
“We help dogs as much as we can,” Knight said. “We’re not in a position where we can be driving around Dayton picking up strays, and we really don’t have space for them all. We don’t have any open space. It’s a terrible situation and the dogs in our community deserve better.”
Economic pressures and other circumstances can lead to a person abandoning an animal, Bohardt said. The shelter has some resources to help people who may have animals with behavioral or veterinary issues.
“We’re trying to preserve that human animal bond,” she said. “They do have somewhere to call and talk through what their issue is so that we can see what we can do.”
The Animal Resource Center says residents who have concerns about animals in their community should call the center at 937-898-4457. People who find dogs in Montgomery County are encouraged to visit www.mcanimals.org to register the animals with the Animal Resource Center. Dogs are also available to adopt at the shelter.
Pet fostering also reduces overcrowding at animal shelters and frees up space for other strays. Foster home environments also tend to be less stressful on the animals, according to the Animal Resource Center.
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