Albert Lea animal control officer Lea Stoltz said if all goes well the new dog run/walk that is planned to go up adjacent to the animal shelter will be in place by the end of the summer.

Terry Gordon with Pro Manufacturing has indicated that the company would like to donate the roof, posts and rafters for the dog run, she said.

The fences have also already been donated, and now all that’s left for the project is the concrete and sand.

When it’s completed, the dog run would be a fenced-in space with a roof overhead that would allow dogs the opportunity to be outside in fresh air and exercise, Stoltz said. It keeps them from having to stay inside in a kennel too long.

“If it were my pet, I’d want them to go out,” she said.

If an animal stays inside a kennel too long they get kennel craze and then are unable to be adopted.

The planned dog run is 944 square feet. When the space is divided into the individual runs, it will provide eight separate run/walk areas, Stoltz said.

In light of the five dog bites in Albert Lea during the last week, animal control officer Leah Stoltz is encouraging people to follow some simple guidelines to help prevent further cases from taking place.

Out of the five bites that took place last week, two involved mail carriers — one of which involved a dog on a leash and the other was a stray.

The stray, which was a pit bull, Stoltz said, caused the most severe injury out of the five incidents to the mail carrier that it bit. The animal is under supervision at the animal shelter, and after 14 days it will be put down. It looked as if it were the victim of some form of abuse, she said.

The third case involved a puppy and one of its owners. This was a minor incident, Stoltz said.

The remaining two were relatively minor as well.

Stoltz said none of the animals were repeat offenders.

To prevent further cases from happening, she said, it is important to make sure that animals are licensed and are up-to-date on vaccinations.

People should always remember to ask permission to pet somebody’s dog and remember to stay away from strays. If they are approached by a dog, they should stand still and not make eye contact with it, she said.

People should also not bother a dog that is sleeping or eating and should not tease it in any way. Many previous dog bites have resulted from children who were teasing the dog that bit them, Stoltz said.

“That’s a big one,” she said.

Finally, people should not reach through a fence to pet an animal.

Stoltz said more dog bites happen at this time of year because of the heat cycles and because kids are out of school.

Hot temperatures themselves can cause more aggression in animals because it makes them agitated, she said. Unaltered animals, especially males, are also going to have more of a desire to get out and procreate.

Most importantly, a dog will bite when it’s scared, Stoltz said.