Police investigating kennel worker who appeared to abuse dog

DEKALB COUNTY — A local dog owner shared a heartbreaking video on Facebook of a worker who she says abused her dog at a Brookhaven kennel.

The video quickly went viral, and several viewers shared it with Channel 2 Action News.

Channel 2's Tom Regan spoke with the dog's owner, who said she was horrified to see the worker repeatedly knee her dog in the throat.

Regan learned that the worker has since been fired and police now say they are investigating him. Regan was at the Bark and Board in Brookhaven when police arrived to take a closer look at the webcam video.

The dog's owner, Rachel Mundy said she dropped her Husky mix, Ava, off Thursday to go on a trip out of town later in the day. When she clicked on the kennel webcam to check on Ava, she was stunned by the way one employee was treating her dog.

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"He would kind of go up to her, back her up against the wall and push her into a corner," Mundy said.

Then, she said she saw something even worse: The worker jamming his knee into the dog's throat, apparently knocking Ava's head into the wall.

"That's the most violent one I captured," Mundy said. "I was like, 'This is going too far, this is not OK.'"

She said she immediately went to the boarding kennel and removed her dog.

"I had to leave work to go pick her up because I couldn't leave her there for a whole weekend to be treated like that," Mundy said.

Mundy said she has used Bark and Board to keep her dog several times and this has never happened before. The Brookhaven location has been open for a couple of years.

Regan talked to Stuart Wingate, the businesses co-owner, who said he was appalled at what he saw.

"When I saw it, I was absolutely sickened," Wingate said. "It is not representative of who we are as a company or who is my staff."

Wingate said the employee had never before displayed aggression toward their animals and was immediately fired.

"No guest under our care is to receive any physical discipline," Wingate said. "We just hope folks will understand one bad apple doesn't mean that's the whole crew. We care for the dogs as if they are our own."

Regan filed an open records request for the latest inspection of the facility and Bark and Board received good marks in an August inspection.

Wingate said all workers will get a refresher course on animal care, which includes no physical discipline.

Mundy said she is glad the business is taking action.

"He definitely understands that this is serious and completely unacceptable," Mundy said.

Cox Media Group