Montgomery County has a loose dog problem. That’s not a rhetorical device, it’s what local officials, shelter directors, and law enforcement have said publicly, repeatedly, and with increasing urgency.
In 2024, 357 dog bites were flagged to the Montgomery County Animal Resource Center — and that number only captures what was formally reported to ARC. Bites reported directly to Public Health — Dayton & Montgomery County aren’t necessarily included. Bites treated at urgent care or managed at home go uncounted altogether. The Ohio Department of Health estimates that roughly 75% of all animal bites reported annually in the state are related to dogs, and local health officials acknowledge that Montgomery County’s true bite numbers are substantially higher than what formal reports capture.
ARC director and dog warden Amy Bohardt has been direct about the scale of the problem. The shelter has capacity for 80 dogs but is consistently running 20 or more above that number. Since 2020, ARC has received and responded to more than 40,000 calls for service — an average of more than 8,000 calls per year. In 2024 alone, ARC received 9,304 calls for service. The agency fields calls about loose dogs, dog attacks, and bite reports across a county where approximately 140,000 dogs reside.
The documented attacks in 2024 illustrate what those numbers mean in human terms: a child severely mauled, a female jogger attacked by a pack of loose dogs, a 60-year-old man seriously injured on Kensington Avenue in Dayton, and a Harrison Township woman who spent months recovering from a neighbor’s dog that charged into her backyard and then turned on her when she tried to intervene. That woman saw roughly $30,000 in expenses from the attack. Part of one hand is permanently disabled. She still feels anxious every time she walks outside.
Ohio Law About Dog Bite Cases
The bite victim in Harrison Township absorbed thousands of dollars in losses and permanent physical disability from an attack caused by a neighbor’s dog that had a documented history of running loose. Under Ohio law, that victim likely had a civil claim worth pursuing — and the legal framework is significantly stronger than most people realize.
Ohio Revised Code § 955.28(B) imposes strict liability on the owner, keeper, or harborer of a dog for any injury caused by that animal. There is no requirement to prove the owner knew the dog was dangerous. There is no “first bite” grace period. If the dog injured you and you were lawfully present — on a public sidewalk, in your own yard, at a neighbor’s home — the person responsible for that dog is liable. The statute explicitly covers people who come to a property for legitimate purposes, and courts have consistently applied it broadly.
What this means for the kinds of attacks happening in Montgomery County right now is straightforward: when a loose dog that’s been running through a neighborhood for weeks finally bites someone, the owner cannot claim ignorance. When a pack of dogs that neighbors have reported to ARC multiple times attacks a jogger, the owners of those animals face exposure that goes beyond a citation from animal control. The civil claim exists separately from whatever enforcement action the county takes — and it is not dependent on whether the county acts at all.
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The Loose Dog Problem In Dayton
Montgomery County’s particular situation — an overwhelmed shelter, a growing population of abandoned and stray dogs, documented packs of animals in certain Dayton neighborhoods — raises legal questions that don’t arise in most other counties.
Who owns a pack of loose dogs? When multiple dogs are involved in an attack, identifying the owner of each animal matters for determining liability. ARC investigates bite reports and works to identify dog ownership, but that investigation may be incomplete or inconclusive. We conduct our own investigation in multi-dog bite cases to identify every potentially liable party.
What about landlords? When a tenant’s dog has bitten before, or when a property owner has been made aware of a dangerous animal on their premises and failed to act, Ohio’s harborer liability provisions may extend civil responsibility beyond the dog’s registered owner. In Dayton’s dense residential neighborhoods, where rental housing is common and landlord-tenant relationships frequently intersect with dog ownership, this matters.
Does ARC’s “education-first” approach affect your claim? ARC has stated publicly that it responds to bite reports with education and compliance monitoring rather than immediate impoundment. That approach has been criticized by community members. For bite victims, the question of what ARC knew, when it knew it, and what enforcement actions were or weren’t taken can be relevant to documenting the owner’s awareness of a dangerous animal — one element of building the strongest possible case.
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The Injury Is Rarely Just the Wound
The Harrison Township victim’s story illustrates something that medical professionals and attorneys who handle these cases see consistently: the visible wound is rarely the full extent of what a dog attack costs.
Reconstructive surgery and wound closure often require multiple procedures. Deep puncture wounds carry significant infection risk, including the potential for serious bacterial infections that may require IV antibiotics and hospitalization — exactly as the director of the Miami Valley Hospital emergency department has noted publicly about bite cases in this area. Nerve and tendon damage in the hands — a common site for bites when a victim instinctively protects their face — can result in partial permanent disability, as happened in Harrison Township.
Beyond the physical injuries: anxiety, PTSD, and the ongoing psychological impact of an attack that happened without warning in a place that felt safe. These are compensable damages under Ohio law. They don’t require a diagnosis of clinical PTSD to pursue — they require documentation and an attorney who knows how to present them.
Public Health — Dayton & Montgomery County is the local reporting authority for dog bites in this region. Bite reports filed with that office, along with any records from ARC, Dayton Police, or other responding agencies, form the official paper trail that supports a civil claim. Getting that documentation — and preserving it before records cycle out — is among the first things we do.
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Dayton’s Dog Bite Problem Isn’t Going Away
State Rep. Phil Plummer, who chairs the Montgomery County Dog Task Force formed in 2025, has acknowledged that addressing the loose dog problem requires legislation that the Ohio General Assembly has repeatedly failed to pass. Bills introduced after fatal maulings in Dayton in 2014 and 2017 never crossed the finish line.
Until the law changes in ways that meaningfully reduce the number of dangerous animals on Dayton streets, the dogs are still out there. And the owners of those animals are still legally responsible when they bite.
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Kruger & Hodges Serves the Entire Dayton Area
Our injury attorneys serve dog bite victims across Montgomery, Greene, and surrounding counties. Consultations are free. Cases are handled on a contingency fee basis — no fee unless we recover for you. Contact us today.
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