Mike Dickover asked the Homewood Village Board to consider raising the current $50 fine for loose dogs roaming neighborhoods.

Dickover told trustees at the Aug. 26 meeting that his wife was viciously attacked by a dog in Homewood’s Southgate neighborhood 11 months ago. 

“To be clear, it’s not a dog problem, I don’t think; I think it’s a problem with the dog owners,” Dickover said. 

Following his wife’s attack, Dickover and his wife noticed that people don’t think twice about paying the fine, which is $50. The Dickovers came to the conclusion that the fine is too low, he said. 

Dickover and his wife conducted their own research, and found that Homewood’s $50 fine was set approximately 30 to 40 years ago, and is much lower compared to other municipalities, he said. 

“My wife started to look at other villages that were non-home rule in Cook County and what their minimum fine was for dogs. What she found was that everything was $150, if not more,” Dickover said. 

According to Dickover, there are 678 registered dogs in Homewood between 2020 and 2025. 

“Of those, in that same period of time, 132 incidents of loose dogs were reported,” Dickover said, adding, “I did the math. It’s 19.5%, or almost one in five dogs.” He said that 63 out of the 132 incidents reported were dog bites.

Homewood Village Manager Napoleon Haney will follow up once the village conducts its own investigation into the matter.