Lawanda Hunt wants Dallas Animal Services to do more to clear loose dogs out of her Oak Cliff neighborhood after she was bitten on the face.

DALLAS — Lawanda Hunt has been around dogs all her life.

The Oak Cliff woman regularly visits her grandfather, who lives nearby with his dog, Papa.

The family sometimes ties up Papa to protect him from loose dogs in the neighborhood, including one Hunt had seen roaming the alley.

On a recent visit, that dog was in her backyard. When she tried to shoo the dog, it bit her face.

"I didn't know what happened," Hunt said. "I just looked down and there was blood everywhere."

Hunt says Dallas Animal Services didn't do enough when she called about the loose dog before she was attacked. Now she wants to see the organization do more to combat the loose dog problem in her grandfather's east Oak Cliff neighborhood.

The bite mark starts at the top of Hunt's nose and goes down both of her cheeks. She has to take medicine for the pain.

"I don't want nobody to ever experience this," Hunt said. "This shouldn't happen again."

When Hunt called Dallas Animal Services about the stray dog before she was bit, she said the officers who responded did a "lazy job" trying to catch it.

"They weren't even too adamant about finding this alley," Hunt said.

A few days later when Hunt stopped by her grandfather's house, she said she drove up and saw a lot of officers and investigators there, too.

"I just see this huge presence," Hunt said.

Hunt said the officers told her that Papa couldn't be tethered without a person in the backyard with him. She claims they threatened her grandfather with a citation.

Hunt obliged but said the family only tied up Papa because of the loose dog.

"I felt like they were threatening us," Hunt said. "They were very aggressive."

Hunt's grandfather lives in District 4 of Dallas, which had the most calls to DAS about loose dogs between July 2018 and June 2019.

"We're just so immune to seeing these dogs running around," Hunt said. "We just have the worst dog problem."

Ann Barnes of Dallas Animal Services said city ordinance and state law prevents dogs from being tied up for an extended period of time because they can develop behavior problems.

She said her officers didn't threaten to hand out any citations to Hunt or her grandfather.

"My officers educated her on tethering," Barnes said.

Barnes said a big part of the issue with dog bites revolves around owners not doing what they are supposed to.

"There is an ordinance in the City of Dallas that your pets can't run loose," Barnes said. "You have to have them on a leash or in a fence or in some kind of enclosure. That message doesn't seem to be getting out there."

Barnes also said Dallas Animal Services has priority levels to their calls. When a bite occurs, that turns into a "Priority 1," which is the highest level.

After Hunt's bite, officers eventually caught the loose dog, which Barnes believes has a home.

"We want to find the owner of that dog," Barnes said.