Mike LaSalvia left his vacation in Mexico to return home early to Ohio after watching his Pit Bull, Leo, get kicked and dragged across the floor on a webcam of the doggie daycare where he had been staying. Tails R Waggin Doggie Daycare has 3 locations in the Akron area and Leo was staying at the one in Tallmadge.
Leo has stayed at this particular doggie daycare several times without any problems, but when LaSilvia rewound the webcam tape on December 15, he was appalled to watch a daycare worker kick Leo twice and drag him across the floor by his collar. The dog dad called his sister to pick up Leo and immediately left Mexico to head home and reunite with him.
Watch a news clip on the incident below. (Warning: it contains footage of Leo’s mistreatment.)
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The owner and founder of Tails R Waggin, Rebecca Brockmeyer, told FOX8 that the woman in the video was the franchise owner of 2 Tails R Waggin locations, including the one Leo had been staying at. Her franchise agreement has been revoked since this video came to light and she is banned from the property.
Brockmeyer released a statement in an attempt to reassure other clients that this type of behavior will not be tolerated from any employees. She said:
“I conclude my statement with a plea to the public to not group this entire company and all its amazing staff members in with one incident that none of them had any involvement in or participated in. We are working on a quick and effective resolution to ensure this never happens again at one of our facilities.”
That’s not enough for LaSilvia, who plans to file a police report.
In another twist, the woman in the video released a statement on Monday attempting to explain her actions. Here it is in full:
“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.
Sincerely,
Amy Beach, owner
Tails R Waggin, Tallmadge, Ohio”
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