EXERCISING CONTROL COUNTY HITS STREET TO ROUND UP LOOSE DOGS SOURCE} BY CHARLES F. BOSTWICK STAFF WRITER.

LAKE LOS ANGELES - Animal-control officers rounded up two dozen roaming dogs in Lake Los Angeles and in north and east Lancaster in a crackdown inspired by an upsurge in pit bull attacks since spring.

The sweep was part of an effort that includes increasing the Antelope Valley animal-control staff, launching a public education campaign and stepping up efforts to identify and monitor potentially vicious dogs.

``We stand committed to resolving the increase in dog attacks in the Antelope Valley,'' said Marcia Mayeda, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control.

Twenty-three dog attacks have been reported this year in the Antelope Valley, up from only six in all of 2004. Of this year's attacks, all but one involved pit bulls or pit-bull mixes.

The worst came in March, when a 47-year-old woman was knocked down and mauled by a neighbor's pit bull-retriever mix. Sheriff's deputies shot the dog to death as it bit her arm.

In six other incidents, pit bulls or pit-bull mixes caused minor injuries to people, and in eight cases they attacked other animals. Other incidents involved dogs menacing people. Besides the Quartz Hill dog, Lancaster sheriff's deputies have shot five other pit bulls or pit-bull mixes that threatened them this year, and Palmdale sheriff's deputies shot to death a dog that chased children walking to school.

``It seems like there's a sudden upswing of dogs roaming loose,'' Lancaster sheriff's station Capt. Carl Deeley said.

Sheriff's deputies for years have encountered pit bulls kept by gang members or drug dealers as protection, trained to be vicious, Deeley said. At a home last year, deputies came across a pit bull that was chained in a yard over a buried drug stash.

But roaming dogs have become particularly common in the older Lancaster neighborhoods north of Avenue I, sheriff's officials said. Mayeda said animal-control officials believe the upsurge in problem pit bulls is due to the animals moving with their owners into the Antelope Valley.

In June, at Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich's urging, four new animal-control field officers were hired to join the six on duty in the Antelope Valley. A fifth now undergoing training will be assigned to the Lancaster shelter to answer calls from citizens.

Palmdale also is paying for an additional officer, Mayor Jim Ledford said.

``Aggressive dogs roaming unchallenged are a threat to our community, and our residents are demanding a tougher response,'' Ledford said.

At a news conference at the Lancaster animal shelter, backed by a chorus of barking and howling dogs, Antonovich and other officials detailed steps taken to combat aggressive dogs.

Animal-control officers have begun compiling a countywide database on homes with dogs that are reported as menacing but that have not attacked anyone, such as a large dog that charges aggressively against a fence whenever anyone passes by, Mayeda said.

Animal-control officers will visit the homes to judge if the dogs are really potentially dangerous - or just a tiny Llaso apso being yappy - and to talk to owners and check if the dogs are licensed and vaccinated, Mayeda said. Officers will try to drive regularly by the homes where menacing dogs have been reported, she said.

At the news conference, the officials also unveiled posters reading ``Don't be a dog bite victim'' and bearing an image of a snarling Doberman pinscher - ironically, not one of the breeds involved in recent attacks.

The posters contain advice for how to act when confronted by an aggressive dog: Don't scream, run or stare into the dog's eyes; back slowly away; take shelter in a car or building; ``feed'' the dog a purse or jacket to bit on; and, if attacked, curl up in a ball and protect your head and neck.

Friday's sweep for roaming dogs started at dawn in Lake Los Angeles, with 10 animal-control officers backed up by sheriff's deputies and district attorney investigators, in case owners objected to their dogs being taken.

The animal-control trucks cruised in pairs through Lake Los Angeles. If officers spotted a dog, one truck sped ahead to cut it off and the other stopped behind it.

``They're difficult to catch out here; there's lots of open space,'' animal control Sgt. Alonzo Real said.

Several times, the dogs roaming along Lake Los Angeles streets spotted the animal-control trucks at the same time the officers spotted them and ran into backyards.

One dog running from officers slipped into a backyard through a loosely chained gate.

Animal-control officers knocked on the home's front door and told residents they were going to be cited for their dog being loose. The residents told them the dog that got in didn't live there: Their two dogs were tied up.

Officers went into the backyard to get the dog that had run in, but it escaped through an open fence in the rear.

On another block, a dog roaming loose ran back to its home before officers could catch it. Its owner decided to turn it over to the officers. She said she'd let the dog out a few minutes before.

The officers were also given nine puppies that came out of a backyard toward them. The resident told the officers he didn't want them.

In all, officers picked up 11 dogs - including two pit bulls or pit-bull mixes - plus the nine puppies in Lake Los Angeles, and four dogs in Lancaster.

People can report roaming or aggressive dogs in the Antelope Valley by calling the Lancaster shelter at [phone].

Charles F. Bostwick, [phone]

chuck.bostwick(at)dailynews.com

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4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 3 -- color; 1 -- 2 -- color in AV edition only; 3 -- ran in AV edition only) Los Angeles County animal-control officers, top, round up a pit-bull mix during a stray-animal sweep Friday in Lake Los Angeles. Animal-control officer Eric Moser, right, loads a captured shepherd mix into his truck. Above, one of the dogs seized, a pit-bull mix, sits in a kennel cage. The sweep was part of an effort that includes increasing the Antelope Valley animal-control staff, launching a public education campaign and stepping up efforts to identify and monitor potentially vicious dogs.

(4) Animal-control officer Eric Moser rounds up a shepherd mix during Friday's sweep in Lake Los Angeles.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer