When Penelope Love walks out of her Aetna home, some days she doesn’t know if it will be a good day or a day she may have to fight.
And it’s all because of loose dogs.
“Nobody wants to encounter a pack of dogs in any kind of situation,” she said.
Over the past several months, Love said she has had frightening encounters. Her elderly parents, ages 70 and 89, and her aunt, 95, were attacked by a pack of dogs two blocks from her home. She said she has also been attacked by a neighbor’s pit bulls on her own property.
Now, as a grandmother to 2-, 4- and 6-year-old girls, she worries about her grandchildren walking to her house. The concern goes beyond that one scenario. Love said repeated encounters with dogs have left her on edge whenever she steps outside.
“It makes me feel vulnerable and frustrated,” she said. “I’m not in fear, but I’m very concerned, and not just for me but the people in my neighborhood.”
Love is not alone.
Across Gary, some residents say loose and stray dogs have forced them to change daily routines, keeping people from walking their neighborhoods, playing outside or stepping out of their cars without first scanning the street. Police Chief Derrick Cannon said the city fields thousands or service calls each year, but he said he does not believe Gary is overrun with stray animals.
A constant problem
Nichelle Daughtery, 68, moved to Gary more than 20 years ago from Chicago.
“I came out here to escape the gangs of Chicago,” she said.
She now lives in Aetna and said she once enjoyed walking in her neighborhood regularly. But loose dogs, she said, have changed that.
Two weeks ago, she said, several dogs surrounded her car when she tried to get out. She confronted neighbors about their loose pets, and some acknowledged they were not using leashes despite city ordinances. In another instance, a neighbor who tried to help her exit her car was attacked and bitten.
“There’s always stray dogs blocking you from coming up and down the block,” Daughtery said. “It’s just constant.”
When there have been problems, she has called animal control.
She said she encounters similar issues when visiting family in the Glen Park neighborhood or attending church on Clay Street. At times, she said she carries a stick to feel safe.
“I am afraid of dogs, and I don’t want them to approach me,” she said, adding that it is one of the main reasons she stopped taking her walks.
She said many of the problems stem from renters who do not supervise their dogs or follow city laws. A former landlord who now lives on a block with many rentals, she said responsibility should fall on both tenants and property owners.
Her yard is fenced in the front and back, but she still does not feel safe letting her granddaughter play outside alone. She said dogs have trapped them in their car, and once broke a gate trying to get into the yard.
Though she has not been physically attacked, she said she stays vigilant by scanning the street when she arrives home, using cameras to monitor dogs passing her fence and relying on neighbors who will retrieve their pets when they get loose.
“I think that Gary should acknowledge that there needs to be rules for people moving in and out of their community, especially as we’re having this flight from Chicago and everyone is looking for a safe place to live,” Daughtery said. “I think that if you want to have revitalization and good communities, you need to lay the foundations for that.”
For Jennifer Sease, 68, a longtime Aetna resident, one encounter changed everything.
In February 2024, she said, an aggressive dog approached her after an evening walk. As she tried to get away, she fell and broke her wrist.
The injury required surgery to insert a plate and screws.
Since this incident, she said, she has had an underlying fear of walking around her neighborhood because of loose dogs.
“I just don’t walk anymore,” Sease said. “I’m scared to walk in this area. I’ve been doing this for a while, and it’s never been this bad. I’ve had nightmares, and I’m still going through this.”
Love and Sease insist that landlords should be held accountable, especially as the area develops and more long-time owners and developers start renting out.
“They need to know that when they rent these houses, and these people have dogs, they need to let their renters know what the ordinance is regarding dogs if they’re going to accept the dog,” Sease said.
Creating this level of accountability can help others feel safe, especially when dealing with incidents like this. They have made it a mission to report these incidents to Gary Animal Control so there are records to hold people accountable. Through their, and others reporting of incidents, it has led to more patrols in their neighborhoods and repercussions for neighbors not adhering to city laws and ordinances.
All the women have emphasized that Animal Control has heard and responded to their complaints in a timely matter.
What the data shows
Cannon is aware people are concerned about dogs in the city. However, he said Gary does not face a significantly larger loose-dog problem than other urban areas.
“We’re not overrun by stray dogs,” Cannon said.
He started his career in animal control in 1999 before becoming an officer in 2002. Native to the city, he recognizes that loose dogs have always been a thing here but that it’s not going to overwhelm the community.
“We have animals that are born into the wild, and then we do have sometimes negligent animal owners that either have disregarded or neglected their animals or might have an animal gotten away from them,” he said. “What we try to do here is maintain that population.”
Cannon’s department oversees Animal Control. The city has five animal control officers — one supervisor and four officers — responsible for animal control and civil enforcement duties.
While that number may seem small, Cannon said it is sufficient to meet the city’s demand and described the unit as one of the department’s hardest-working teams.
Under Indiana law, Animal Control officers can issue citations and make arrests. Animal control officers also work with local partners to place adoptable animals in homes and operate trap-and-release programs to manage other populations.
In 2025, the department handled 2,370 service calls, down from 2,525 in 2024. Calls ranged from retrieving loose animals to responding to complaints and removing dead animals from roadways.
Officers impounded 575 dogs and 153 cats last year, while also issuing 356 warning citations and 181 citations requiring court appearances.
Cannon encouraged residents to call the nonemergency police line to report loose animals so officers can respond and educate pet owners.
Training and responsibility
Tia Friend-Johnson, an animal control officer and professional dog trainer who owns Friends Furrever Inc., said many of the problems come down to responsible ownership. Through her work, she said, she sees both sides — pet owners and people harmed by loose or aggressive dogs.
“You never really know how your dog may react to another dog or a person,” she said.
Friend-Johnson, who lives in Miller, said she sees the issue regularly in the neighborhood. Some owners, she said, take a “beach mentality,” assuming their dogs will not harm anyone, while others ignore basic safety responsibilities.
“Training is a form of communication between you and your dog,” she said.
While walking clients’ dogs, she said, she has had to fend off loose animals more than once, sometimes with the owner standing nearby.
“To have an untrained dog is bad ownership, even for small dogs,” she said. “To have a pet, you have to invest in training. It’s just as important as food and water, because they’re cute until they become uncontrollable.”
Whether dogs come from shelters or breeders, she said, training should be expected for the safety of both people and animals.
Looking ahead
Friend-Johnson said training and accountability are key, but for residents like Love and Daughtery, enforcement and education cannot come soon enough.
They still walk in their neighborhoods carefully, watching corners and listening for barking before stepping out of their cars.
City officials say they are also looking ahead. Gary is planning a new, larger animal control facility and expanded partnerships with local organizations, a move Cannon said would allow the city to increase education, outreach, and enforcement.
“We believe that this facility will help us multiply what we’re trying to do as far as promoting education, assisting residents, and holding bad actors accountable,” Cannon said. He added that a more visible presence in neighborhoods could help prevent problems before they escalate.
“The animal population is a vulnerable population as well,” he said.
For Love, the concern is more immediate.
She still steps outside each day scanning her surroundings, thinking about her grandchildren and the possibility of another encounter.
“Imagine those dogs coming after my grandchildren,” she said.
