Carbon animal shelter helps officers deal with aggressive dogs

Officers speed to the scene of an overdose. They enter the front door, ready to administer an anti-overdose drug and potentially save the victim’s life. But blocking their path is the victim’s dog, snarling and defensive. They have to choose between the dog’s life or its owner’s.

But the Carbon County Animal Shelter is helping officers find a third choice — the ability to successfully de-escalate a situation with an aggressive dog.

Shelter manager Tom Connors recently spoke to police from Lansford — where they have dealt with a number of incidents involving aggressive dogs.

“We want to prevent an officer from being hurt, people from being hurt, and we don’t want that dog hurt. That’s the last thing we want,” Lansford Police Chief Jack Soberick said.

Over the past five years Lansford has had two instances in which an officer was bitten by a dog, neither of which occurred inside a home. But there are numerous other situations where they are serving a warrant or responding to a health emergency where a dog prevents them from getting inside.

Soberick said that a large number of the cases involve pitbulls.

“They’re being bred repeatedly, sold for a low amount of money to make a quick buck and then we have this problem of a proliferation of dogs that we end up having to deal with, that are running loose, biting people, not being cared for,” he said.

In many cases, they call upon Connors. With years of experience, there are not many dogs that Connors is afraid to try to catch. Every police department in the county knows that he’s available to help if they are working with a dog that they are not comfortable with.

With the help of a catch pole, which enables him to secure a dog at more than arm’s length, Connors has helped remove dogs that are neglected, scared and dealing with the death of an owner.

“Some people are more comfortable with dogs than others, and every situation is different — a scared dog could act aggressive, and better safe than sorry,” Connors said.

Officers don’t want to use their weapons against a dog, not only because it’s someone’s pet, but because there could be legal ramifications. But nonlethal weapons can agitate a dog even more because it inhibits their sight and breathing. Connors said if an officer is unsure of an animal they are dealing with, the best thing to do is contact county dispatchers, and they’ll reach him.

“I have a good working relationship with every department in the county. I appreciate their help and I’m sure they appreciate mine. It’s always a matter of working together and making it safe for everybody,” he said.

Connors said that no dogs are born bad, but if they are not properly socialized as a young dog, they will be aggressive as adults.

Soberick said that Lansford is dealing with a large number of dogs where that is the case. Dogs aren’t being walked, curbed or tended to by their owners.

Soberick said he is grateful for the county and Connors for providing the services of the shelter. However he is concerned about the fact that people are adopting shelter dogs and breeding them.

“We ship them to the shelter, and the cycle starts all over because they get adopted out, re-bred and the whole thing keeps going on,” he said.

There is no official policy where the shelter dogs need to be fixed. County Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard said no one has ever reported concerns about shelter dogs being bred by their adoptive owners. He said he’s proud of the work done by the shelter, but would be open to discussing such a policy if the shelter manager thinks it’s necessary.