07/26/2023
Statement from Lucky Dawg Pet Resort
As you are probably aware we have been a victim of a negative social media smear campaign from a former client and their followers this last week. We suspended our Facebook account Sunday evening as this campaign has targeted our business, our family and friends.
We are a small veteran family-owned business that loves dogs, pays taxes, employs residents and gives back to the community. We save local dogs from shelters by donating training with our partners with shelters to help with adoptions. We have 2 certified dog trainers on staff, and I myself hold several dog certifications. We love our family, community, volunteering, and dogs.
We are deeply saddened, and heart broken by the death of any dog as we fully understand the emotional heart ache that comes with losing a beloved pet.
Since Saturday, July 22nd we have been on the receiving end of a social media smear campaign which has included negative reviews and vulgar comments/email/etc. from people who have never been a client. This extremely negative smear campaign has targeted our posts, our client posts, and even the sending of disturbing messages to our family. This smear campaign has been nonstop and has crossed the line especially when targeting our children. Prior to this smear campaign our client reviews were overwhelmingly positive, and we had a 4.8-4.9 star on google. The core business is based on repeat clients and client referrals.
We have decided as a business and family to take a pause on operations. We will not accept any new dogs and will work with clients of our current dogs. We will use this time to go over the entire facility top to bottom to clean, sanitize, and inspect all areas.We want to thank the vast majority of our clients who have been and continue to be fantastic. It is truly a pleasure to work with you and play with your awesome dogs.
With this statement we will address the incident that started this negative smear campaign. We will highlight the important details but for privacy reasons we will exclude the name of the client and names of dogs involved.
Incident
The incident that kicked off the negative smear campaign occurred about a month ago. A new client was referred to us by a current client. This client booked 4 dogs to stay with us. As our clients are aware we always have a series of questions and procedures at check-in to make sure we care for the dog properly. These include feeding instructions, medications, allergies, and medical issues.
In the case of multiple dog families how they want the dogs kept, fed and played with. We keep all dogs separate by family (sleep, rest, staged, play, feed) and multiple family dogs we keep per information confirmed at check in. Most of our multiple dog clients want their dogs together, some want together besides feeding (because of food aggression), and a small percentage require us to always separate.
In this case the client told us they wanted all 4 dogs kept together. This is how this family keeps their dogs at home as they have indicated in their own social media post. At check in they asked for dog #4 to be fed separately because the dog would eat the other dog's food. Additionally, the dog had diabetes requiring 2 insulin shots a day. We complied with this request. Our clients may already know this fact, but feeding a diabetic dog separately is our standard practice for any diabetic dog so we can monitor the dog's food and water intake.
Right after check-in we took the 4 dogs to one of our outside staging kennels (where we stage dogs to use the restroom and prepare to be rotated into one of the play runs). The client went up to the fenced area and noticed their dog #2 was acting hyper and nipped at another one of their dogs.
The client came back into the office and specifically requested that we stage dog #2 separately but keep everything else the same; together to eat, sleep, rest and play but alone during staging. We followed the client's request.
On day four after a play session, I talked to the client and told him dog #2 was still being staged outside separately, but was together with the other dogs for eating, sleeping, resting, and play, per his request.
Unfortunately, later in the day during an indoor rest period (Dog #1, Dog #2, Dog #3 were together, dog #4 was being monitored separately for water intake) one of their dogs bit and killed another one of their dogs. We believe the Pitbull mix was the aggressor (Dog #3) due to blood on snout and in mouth/gums. Dog #2 did not have this and dog #1 was the victim.
We called the client to let them know what had transpired. As you can imagine that was a very hard conversation on both ends of the phone. We were very sympathetic and waived any charges owed for the entire stay for all dogs we watched. We understand the tremendous hurt losing a beloved pet can cause, but sadly one of their own dogs bit the other resulting in the dogs death.
This was tragic and we truly understand the heartbreak and anguish when losing a beloved pet. We take our responsibility seriously and wish them peace during this difficult time. Hopefully these facts will help put the community's mind at ease as well.
Sincerely,
Jerry Black
Lucky Dawg Pet Resort
