Chien tué à l'entraînement

[Jaelle1 0]

WEST BOCA FAMILY SAYS DOG DIED AT HANDS OF TRAINER Back >>

Reported By: Doug Shupe
Photographer: Glenn Weston
July 18, 2006
Lisa Bernstein picked up her new German Shepherd dog at the Tri-County Humane Society Tuesday.

A new pet but certainly not a replacement for the German Shepherd dog named Ringo she lost earlier this week.

"Heartbroken isn't even the word, people who don't have dogs don't understand. This was like a child to me, I was his mommy," said Bernstein.

Sunday night a dog trainer who worked at Petco in West Boca offered to train rambunctious Ringo in the Bernstein's home rather than at the canine education classes at the pet store.

"She called it an exorcism she said she was going to take out all the bad endorphins that made him hyper," said Bernstein.

Lisa says the trainer asked her to muzzle Ringo and hold his paws, while she barked in his ears and poked at his neck and stomach with her fingers.

"She assured me she was not hurting him at all and that he was fine and that I had nothing to worry about. She also told me he would urinate and defecate on himself and that was part of the procedure," said Bernstein.

Lisa says the trainer continued for an hour until Ringo was motionless and panting. Lisa rushed him to an animal hospital where he died.

"I was in shock I was appalled I immediately called our trainers, they've never heard of this," said Tri County Humane Society Founder Jeannette Christos.

At Petco, employees knew about the incident but said the dog trainer was not there.

"Petco is taking care of it and they are in touch with the dog's owners and the P.R. people have taken care of it and that's about all I can say," said an employee.

A company spokesperson told us Petco has nothing to do with what their employees do on their off time.

The Bernsteins say they have not heard from the company. They blame the trainer, Petco and themselves for Ringo's death.

"He fought for his life and I didn't know he was fighting for his life I thought what she was doing was the right thing was helping...I will never forgive myself," said Bernstein.




STATEMENT FROM TRAINER

"The Bernstein's dog Ringo was a tragedy. The Bernsteins did not exercise Ringo properly, meanwhile the dog was chained to the door most of its life.

When they had many complaints and finally got in touch with me, the severity of Ringo's condition was "Chain Rage". The dog was not walked or exercised properly for fear he would attack animals or other people on their street. He lived a solitary indoor life with lack of socialization.

This increased his risks of problems when normally exercise was established. This emergency case was heighten for me when the Bernstein's stated to me they were going to euthanize Ringo because of recent aggressive behavior directed towards them or would return him to the rescue organization they received him from.

I tried to help the Bernsteins and Ringo to not go that route. I have trained many dogs on death row due to aggressive behaviors and prevented the needle.

I was severely attacked by Ringo and if it wasn't for the greyhound muzzle I had on him, I would have been mauled even more.

I have worked with many dogs, they are my life. I love dog's very much and I have many clients to prove that. I have never hurt a dog in any form and will continue saving dogs and helping people understand their dogs."

Sincerely,
Jill Deringer


We tried to contact the trainer but did not get a comment back as of late Tuesday afternoon. The director of Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control says this is a very disturbing case and they are investigating.

A necropsy on the dog's body is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. No word yet if charges will be filed.

[Squirrel1 0]

Horrible!

Mais pas besoin d'aller très loin pour voir ce genre de cas.

C'est déjà arrivé dans mon coin un chien tué par un ''dresseur''....

[gin1 0]

Seigneur, le pire c'est que la proprio du chien a assisté l'entraineur.

[Invité]

J'arrive pas a traduire ce texte en anglais... et finalement c'est pas plus mal ...ça doit encore être une histoire horrible

[Invité]

Ils en ont parlé dans les forums anglophones où je suis inscrite. Comme moi, tous les gens sont horrifiés.