Outrage is growing over a video being shared online that allegedly shows the owner of a dog daycare in Summit County kicking and dragging a dog inside the daycare.
Now, the owner might lose her business after the incident was caught on tape.
The dog's new owner Mike, who didn’t want his last name used, went to Mexico for vacation and trusted the people at Tails R Waggin Dog Daycare in Tallmadge to care for his pet.
The daycare has video cameras so dog owners can remotely watch their dogs on the daycare's website. While Mike was watching, what he saw made him furious.
Mike's sister Nancy is watching Leo until Mike gets home. Nancy said the video showed a worker pin Leo's head to the ground, kick the dog, drag him by his neck, then kick him again.
“It’s heartbreaking seeing a dog being treated like that. You take your dog to these places and you think they’re going to take care of them and keep them safe and then they’re the ones who are hurting your dog,” Nancy said.
When Nancy picked up Leo Saturday after Mike saw the video, she says the daycare gave her a take-home sheet about Leo's day.
“They gave me a paper stating that Leo had fun the whole time he was there. He had no timeouts. He had no problems with them. He was playing well with the other dogs,” Nancy said.
The franchisor of the dog daycare, who has franchise agreements with three dog care locations, told News 5 the video did indeed show owner Amy Beach kick, drag and kick again, the one-and-a-half year-old pit bull named Leo.
That franchisor also said she has already revoked the franchise agreement with Beach’s ownership at both locations, and it’s possible both daycare locations will be shut down in January after this incident.
Seventeen people currently work at the Tallmadge location.
Beach released the following statement Monday afternoon about the incident:
The video clip now circulating on the internet of an incident that occurred in our Tallmadge location shows me handling a dog roughly.
I agree that the video itself, viewed without context, is very disturbing. I want my fellow dog-lovers to know the rest of the story directly from me.
At the beginning of the video, as I let the pit bull out into the common area, it immediately approached another dog’s back. The pit bull’s hair was standing up and he was low-growling – three very distinct signs of an impending attack. It was at that very moment that I made a split-second decision to subdue the pit bull for the protection of myself and the two dogs. In the emotion of the moment, I was scared and reacted instinctively.
I have worked with dogs for 9 years and I have seen the horrific damage a dog-on-dog attack can cause, and I moved quickly to shut-down that possibility.
I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am for the heartache this has caused the pit bull’s owner and family, as well as our clients.
I just feel awful about what happened.
