Grrr Archives - Page 14 of 21 - i Still Love Dogs

Golden Retriever Dies After Being Left in Petco Drying Cage

AUG. 7, 2015 UPDATE: Two former employees of this Petco store have been charged with a class 4 misdemeanor for animal neglect.

Andrea Marks of Powhatan, Va., left Colby, her Golden Retriever, at a Petco store in Westchester Commons for a routine grooming Friday morning.

About six hours later, the healthy young dog was dead of heatstroke.

The store’s assistant manager told Marks a groomer had put Colby in a drying cage — and then left the store to attend a graduation party.

“How does a company let this happen?” wrote Wendy Sitko, Andrea’s daughter, on Facebook. “Then I find out by looking Petco up this has happened before and a lawsuit [says] they no longer use heated cages.”

The lawsuit she’s referring to was filed by Teresa Gilland in 2008 over the death of Sadie, her 6-year-old, healthy Lhasa Apso. Just like Colby, Sadie was left to die in a heating cage at a Petco store in Fair Oaks, Calif. Sadie suffered heatstroke and had to be euthanized. In a July 2011 statement about the case, Petco said the company “no longer uses heat of any kind in the drying process in our grooming salons.”

Melody Newman, another of Marks’ daughters, told CBS 6 News that when her sister called and told her what happened, “I was like, ‘Are you serious?’ Colby was a very playful puppy. He just turned 2 in February.”

Newman said the family was in “complete shock” over Colby’s death and how he died. In a statement, Petco said the company is also “heartbroken.”

“The health and safety of pets is always our top priority and we take full responsibility for all animals under our care,” Petco stated, according to CBS 6 News. “We are taking immediate action to investigate and understand the situation. Our thoughts are with Colby’s family at this difficult time.”

Just two months ago, a Petco groomer in Atlanta was fired after a video of him yanking a terrified dog’s leg went viral.

Dog Groomers Aren’t Required to Be Licensed or Certified

Surprisingly, dog groomers are not required to be licensed or certified in any U.S. state. (New York City and Miami-Dade County, Fla., do regulate them; however, this is not done statewide.) New Jersey may become the first state to do so with “Bijou’s Bill,” named in memory of a Shih Tzu who, like Colby, died during a routine grooming session at a chain store — PetSmart, in this case.

“Lucy’s Law,” a similar bill in California that was named after a Yorkshire Terrier mix who was severely injured by a groomer, failed to pass in 2012. Petco and PetSmart strongly opposed the bill and lobbied against it.

Until statewide laws are passed, when you take your dog to a groomer (especially at a large chain store, where most deaths and injuries occur), it could be a life-or-death matter to ask some important questions.

“It would behoove you to find out who your groomer is, how long they’ve been grooming, what kind of track record they have — you need to do this kind of work,” Rosemary Marchetto, Bijou’s dog mom, told CBS New York in December.

On her Facebook page late Friday afternoon, Marks wrote, “Goodbye my sweet baby, taken from me way too soon, thanks to Petco.

“I will love you forever and always, my sweet, sweet Colby Jack. RIP.”

Photo via Twitter

Atlanta Falcons Dump Player Charged with Killing Girlfriend’s Yorkie

AUG. 14, 2015 UPDATE: Prince Shembo’s felony charge for killing Dior was reduced to a misdemeanor, so the Atlanta Falcons are considering welcoming him back to the team.

Within a couple of hours after Atlanta Falcons player Prince Shembo was charged with aggravated cruelty to animals for killing his girlfriend’s dog, the team let the loser linebacker go.

“We are aware of the charges that have been filed against Prince Shembo,” the Falcons said this afternoon in a statement. “We are extremely disappointed that one of our players is involved in something like this. Accordingly, we have decided to waive Prince Shembo.”

On April 19, Denicia Williams, Shembo’s then-girlfriend, told police she had left Dior, her Yorkshire Terrier, with Shembo. When she returned to Shembo’s apartment, the dog was unresponsive. Dior died a short time later at a local animal hospital.

Williams said Shembo told her the next day that he had kicked the dog. (Shembo weighs 260 pounds; a Yorkie typically weighs about 7 pounds.) Williams wisely ended the relationship.

According to the police report, a necropsy revealed that little Dior had suffered a litany of horrific injuries: a fractured rib; fractured liver; abdominal hemorrhage; thoracic hemorrhage; extensive bruising and hemorrhage in the muscles in her front leg and shoulders; head trauma; hemorrhage and edema in her lungs; hemorrhage between her esophagus and trachea; and hemorrhage in the her left eye.

The cause of her death was blunt force trauma.

After posting $15,000 bail, Shembo was released from jail late Friday evening.

His attorney, Jerry Froelich, told reporters his client was in tears over the arrest and had kicked Dior only because the dog bit him, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

“He didn’t mean to kill him,” Froelich said. (As I previously mentioned, Shembo weighs 260 pounds; a Yorkie typically weighs about 7 pounds.)

Shembo is not the only NFL player currently facing felony dog abuse charges.

Terence Cody, who was dropped from the Baltimore Ravens, is facing felony charges of intentionally torturing and cruelly killing his dog Taz, a Presa Canarios Mastiff. He is also charged with inflicting unnecessary suffering or pain on his dog; not providing his dog with nutritious food in sufficiency quantity; not providing proper drink; not providing proper space; and not providing necessary veterinary care. His court date has been scheduled for August 11.

Dwight Jones, a former wide receiver for the New York Jets, was charged last month with felony animal cruelty for letting one of his Pit Bull mixes starve to death. He has not yet been assigned a court date.

Photos: Thomson200; Gwinnett County Police Department

No Jail Time for Loser Who Used Cabela for Fighting Purposes

Earlier this year, Kenny Bell of Tampa, Fla., bought a Pit Bull mix, later named Cabela, to participate in dog fights at his house. But when Cabela proved to be a lover, not a fighter, Bell ordered Natwan Callaway and Bobby Hollinger, both 17, to get rid of her. Callaway shot Cabela three times and tied her to railroad tracks.

In court today, Bell pleaded guilty to possessing a dog for dog-fighting purposes. He barely got a slap on the wrist from the judge.

In a deal reached with the Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office, Bell was sentenced to 48 months probation (for which he’s eligible for release in just two years), 150 hours of community service and ordered to pay up to $1,000 in restitution to Tampa Bay Veterinary Emergency Services (TBVES), ABC Action News reports. He cannot own an animal — but only while he’s on probation..

“For the record, I just want to state that I’m sorry about what happened to the dog Cabela,” Bell told the judge. “I never planned for that to happen. I never thought nothing like that would happen to the dog.”

Bell’s attorney told ABC Action News that his client has been getting lots of hate mail in jail and has been “wrongly characterized.” In other words, shame on the media for its negative portrayal of someone who makes a living fighting dogs to the death!

Bell was the first of four defendants to go to trial in Cabela’s case. Callaway, who confessed to shooting her, will be tried as an adult in August. He’s facing felony charges of aggravated cruelty to animals and armed trespassing, and misdemeanor charges of abandonment of an animal and being a minor in possession of a firearm. The 17-year-old has a rap sheet going back three years that includes robbery, burglary and grand theft, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

“Enjoy your time in a cage, where you will still be treated better than you ever treated her and the other dogs,” wrote TBVES on its Facebook page in March. “She is sure the other inmates will be impressed with your high level of sophistication and the cruelty of your actions! Have a great life, she certainly is on to better things!”

That’s for sure. Ever since Cabela was rescued by Tampa police officers Nick Wilson and Sgt. R. Mills as a train was approaching, the sweet Pit Bull mix has made a remarkable recovery.

TBVES announced on its Facebook page today that although adoption offers have poured in from as far away as Sweden, Cabela has been officially adopted by one of the volunteers who worked with her. She will serve as an ambassador for the clinic that helped save her life.

Photos via Facebook

NJ Cop at Wrong Address Kills German Shepherd

Just like most dogs, Igor Vukobratovic’s 5-year-old German Shepherd, Otto, would bark like mad whenever someone knocked on the door of their Wyckoff, N.J., home.

Strangely, Otto apparently didn’t make a peep yesterday afternoon when police officer Kyle Ferreira said he knocked on the door. Ferreira was responding to a report about a break-in — but he was at the wrong house, across the street from the address reported to police.

When no one answered the door, Ferreira said he entered the backyard through an unlocked gate. He saw a window on the ground floor of the house was open, so he drew his revolver.

“A large, growling German Shepherd lunged out of the open window, bit the officer on his right foot and latched onto his boot,” Wyckoff Police Chief Benjamin Fox told NJ.com.

Ferreira fired four shots at Otto, two of which fatally struck him.

When Vukobratovic returned from the mall a short time later, he wondered why there were patrol cars parked outside his house.

He ran to the backyard, where Otto was lying dead in a pool of blood. “What did you do? What did you do?” he screamed at the police officers.

Vukobratovic’s father, Goran Vukobratovic, later told NJ.com there was no way Otto didn’t make his presence known when Ferreira arrived at the house.

“If he knocked or rang the bell, the dog would bark like crazy,” Goran said. “That’s the threshold.” He thinks Otto jumped out the window, which his son leaves open for him, when he heard the gate open.

Igor Vukobratovic told NJ.com he was considering suing the police department. “I’m just looking at lawyers right now but I don’t know,” he said.

Ferreira was not injured, but was distraught, Fox told CBS New York. “The whole situation is very sad and very unfortunate,” he said.

Training Cops to Humanely Deal with Pet Dogs

Sadly, cases of police officers shooting pet dogs are not unusual. To prevent these incidents, law enforcement officers can be educated about dog behavior and learn how to deal with pet dogs without firing their weapons.

In 2013, Colorado became the first state to pass a “Dog Protection Act,” which requires this training. Texas could be next, if House Bill 593 is passed.

In California, where in March a popular therapy dog named Burberry was shot and killed by an officer who was also at the wrong address, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles (spcaLA) offers the class “Dog Behavior for Law Enforcement” to all police officers in the state.

“When an officer shoots a pet dog, it is traumatic for the officer, the animal and the community — something we want to mitigate as much as is possible,” said spcaLA President Madeline Bernstein in a press release earlier this year.

Photo via Twitter

Former NFL Player Dwight Jones Charged with Starving Dog to Death

Dwight Jones, who was a wide receiver for the New York Jets from 2013 to 2014, was charged Monday with felony animal cruelty for letting one of his Pit Bull mixes starve to death.

After receiving an anonymous call in February about animal cruelty at Jones’ home in Burlington, N.C., police discovered one dog dead in the yard, and the other malnourished.

“The sad part was it was 14 degrees,” Jessica Arias, director of Burlington Animal Services, told the Times-News. “That was the temperature reading when they were out there that night. It was just too cold.”

The dog who died was lying halfway inside a dog house. The surviving dog was taken to a shelter.

“We wish we had an answer for this,” Arias told the New York Daily News. “We see it all the time, but we don’t understand it at all.”

Jones’ bond was set at $5,000. It’s not the first time he’s facing charges. In February 2014, he was charged with “assault on a female, injury to personal property, injury to real property and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle,” according to the Times-News.

Another former NFL player, Terrence Cody, is also facing felony charges for starving his own dog to death.

In February, the former nose tackle for the Baltimore Ravens was indicted for “cruelly torturing” and “intentionally killing” Taz, his Presa Canarios Mastiff. He was also charged with five misdemeanor animal abuse and neglect counts, along with several charges for abusing and neglecting a pet alligator.

Cody is free on $10,000 bail. He has not yet been assigned a court date.

Photo via Twitter