SAN ANTONIO \u2013 San Antonio Animal Care Services is investigating more and more potentially \u201cdangerous\u201d dogs \u2014 a label that carries strict requirements for owners.<\/p>\n
But ACS officials say that increase is also partially responsible for a drop in the rate of owners complying with those requirements, along with staffing turnover in the unit responsible for both investigating the cases and ensuring compliance.<\/p>\n
ACS officials doubled the number of ACS dangerous dog investigator positions from two to four in the 2024 fiscal year. But officials say two of those positions are currently vacant. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn regards to the job itself, it\u2019s very demanding. They see a lot of things and it\u2019s not for everybody which is understandable,\u201d said Lt. Bethany Snowden, who oversees the ACS investigative units.<\/p>\n
Snowden thinks more education and policy changes have helped lead to an increase in dangerous or aggressive dog affidavits \u2014 the sworn complaints that prompt ACS investigations into attacks or threatening behavior.<\/p>\n
In FY 2024, ACS investigated 301 such cases. That jumped to 523 in FY 2025, and ACS has already worked 207 cases in the first four months of FY 2026.<\/p>\n
The city\u2019s online registry<\/a> currently lists 210 \u201cdangerous\u201d dogs and 94 \u201caggressive\u201d ones. <\/p>\n The labels come with extra requirements for the animals\u2019 owners, especially for those labeled \u201cdangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n Dangerous dog owners\u2019 responsibilities<\/a> include maintaining a license with the city, purchasing a $100,000 liability insurance policy, posting a special warning sign, keeping the dog in a secure enclosure, muzzling it when outside, using a special collar and allowing an annual inspection. <\/p>\n Kristin Cooper is trying to fight<\/a> the \u201cdangerous\u201d dog designation her six dogs, five of which are still puppies, were tagged with<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the meantime, she has to comply with the requirements. <\/p>\n \u201cYou want your dog home, that\u2019s what you have to do, you know? It\u2019s a lot, but I mean, it\u2019s worth it\u201a” she said. <\/p>\n Snowden said an owner is considered \u201cnoncompliant\u201d if they don\u2019t reach out and provide everything they need on the anniversary of the dangerous dog investigation.<\/p>\n Without enough investigators to go out, check and push them into compliance, she said they\u2019re having a problem. <\/p>\n After keeping the compliance rate for dangerous dog owners above 80% for the past two years, ACS has seen it fall to just below 71% so far this fiscal year.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re pulling at all ends,\u201d Snowden said. \u201cSo honestly I\u2019ve had supervisors essentially helping with additional duties as far as helping out with those compliance rates to do those inspections for the dangerous dog owners that are currently deemed so that way we can get them into compliance or hold them accountable at municipal court, whether it be through hearings or citations.”<\/p>\n Snowden said the vacant positions have been \u201copen a while,\u201d but she has two people for whom she\u2019s only waiting on a start date.<\/p>\n Having more people will help, Snowden said, \u201cbecause of the fact that not only are we getting more affidavits, more cases can be done, but then we can actually address more noncompliant owners at once.” <\/p>\n Having investigators follow up instead of supervisors would mean \u201cyou\u2019re having people actually go out to properties instead of just making a phone call, instead of sending an email saying, \u2018You need to come into compliance,\u2019 we\u2019re having the staff actually make face and showing up saying, \u2018OK, this is what I need.\u2019 So more babysitting, essentially.\u201d<\/p>\n