Animal behaviorist explains how you can protect yourself from attacking dogs

Stray dogs and dog attacks are an ongoing problem throughout the Houston area.

This week, one area in particular is dealing with them: parts of Liberty County.

On Monday night, KPRC 2’s Deven Clarke told you the story of a neighborhood on 5203 Rd in the Cleveland area that has been dealing with a group of wild dogs that have attacked several people since they came to the neighborhood about two and a half months ago.

Our crews were back in the neighborhood Tuesday morning, where reporter TJ Parker personally witnessed a group of loose dogs chasing a man who was walking his own dog.

Animal behaviorist Lisa Tynan says this has been a problem throughout her decades-long career in Houston – not just in Liberty County but in other areas as well.

“There is a direct link between the ‘save them all’ mentality and this crisis, because these are animals that are being left on the streets to suffer and these are wild animals that have been living across several Being born, growing up and reproducing across generations “They suffer and then die on the streets,” she said. “We need to have some sort of recourse and we need to allow our animal control and animal protection officers to do their public safety job and get these animals out of our communities that are very vulnerable.”

In Liberty County in particular, there is no animal control department or county official. There are animal control units in Dayton and Liberty, but when those units are not available in the cities, officers with the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office respond to calls about dog attacks.

“It’s baffling that there is no animal control in an area as large as Liberty County, and I know some smaller towns have one, but generally it’s one officer and you can’t possibly respond to every call that comes in.” , she said.

She urged people to contact and speak to government officials in the area.

“And if they don’t listen, run for office and take the jobs away from people who aren’t protecting their community,” she said.

As for how to protect yourself, Tynan recommends always assuming the worst when a dog approaches you and keeping your distance, as you can’t always tell if a dog is friendly or not.

“There are some tools you can have,” she said.

Although she doesn’t recommend pepper spray because you could likely hit yourself, she said if you feel like you should use something like that, bear spray is a good option because it can shoot long distances.

“Take really smelly treats with you. If the dog doesn’t completely attack you, but gets a little too close for comfort, you can scatter the treats and distract him,” she said.

According to Tynan, if dogs approach you, you should not run away as this activates the dog’s prey drive.

“If you have a dog or small child with you and you can avoid picking them up, that will only result in the dog starting to jump in your face. You want to be completely still and calm and put something between you and this dog, a car, a fence, space, anything you can calmly do to escape these attacking dogs and call for help if you can , because a person is at a great disadvantage compared to one or more dogs,” she said.

For other dogs, Tynan recommends a so-called coyote vest or collar. She says the most vulnerable area in a dog attack for both dogs and humans is the neck area, so protection is crucial.