Disturbing footage shows dog 'thrown to ground' at care centre
WARNING – DISTURBING CONTENT: Pet owners are distraught after disturbing footage from an Adelaide doggie day care centre surfaced, appearing to show a worker rough-handling a pet.
The owner of a northern suburbs doggy day care centre has been caught on camera appearing to pin a dog to the ground by its neck, which she was meant to be looking after.
The confronting video was taken inside the Diamond Dog Activity Centre at Salisbury South Wednesday afternoon.
It shows the centre’s owner appearing to pin a dog down by the neck, before lifting her by the hind legs and dumping her back on the ground.
The dog in the video, one-year-old American staffy Xena, was described by her owners as “the sweetest dog in the world”.
They say seeing her treated like this is heartbreaking and the incident has left the furious owners vowing to never return.
“Seeing something you love a lot being pinned to the ground and held there and thrown to the ground is a bit distressing,” the owner told 7 News.
He said when he approached the owner Wednesday night about the video, she told them she’d used a special settling technique to calm Xena down.
“She showed us what she did on her dog, and what we saw [her do] compared with what we saw on the video are two different things,” he told 7 News.
After the video was posted on the 7 News Facebook page Thursday afternoon, distressed clients arrived at the centre, frantically trying to pick up their dogs.
“I’m speechless. I just want to get my dog,” one dog owner said.
Seven News has approached the owner for comment, but she closed the shutters and deleted her Facebook page.
The RSPCA said it can’t investigate the matter until an official complaint is made, but after viewing the videos the animal welfare organisation told 7 News the way Xena was handled was too rough and unnecessary.
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