Animal cruelty at Must Love Dogs (old Dogwood Park)

On February 2021, our dog was brutally mistreated at this place. Our dog is a 1-year old, lab-pitbull mix, who is the sweetest and most loving dog we’ve ever had. He is amazing with my kids and with other kids and dogs in our neighborhood, and he has never been aggressive towards anyone or other pets. Short after dropping our dog off at MLD for a play day, a family member witnessed our dog getting aggressively grabbed by his chest, pushed to the ground, and finally kicked by a staff member. I have tried to get law enforcement involved. However, the deputy was presented with a paused and manipulated surveillance video of very low quality. The video had the wrong timestamp and only showed what was convenient - a very small part of the entire scene. There were consecutive requests from law enforcement to obtain the entire morning video, which was never released by the MLD owner. In the incident report, the staff member alleged that our dog was attacking another dog, and she said “I did what I was trained to do here”. Have I ever been notified prior to this day that our dog was aggressive towards other dogs there? No, never. Have I ever agreed with the use of such brutal actions to put my dog “in time out”? Absolutely not. Three weeks later, I was finally able to watch a video at the MLD owner’s attorney office. The short video showed the first brutal tossing of (what appears to be) our dog on the ground, and the video is paused soon after that. The video DOES NOT show our dog attacking to another dog, or any reason for such violence. The MDL owner has objected to the release of the entire morning video. In other occasions, our dog has returned home with bloodshot eyes after spending time at MDL. The answer I got when questioning their staff was “it must be the outside sand getting on his eyes”. Coincidently or not, bloodshot eyes is one of the signs of animal abuse. Regrettably, I never took the time to read the previous reviews of several unsatisfied customers with similar complaints about this place and their customer services. As said by the MLD owner that day “I have been sued a couple of times here and that is why I have an attorney on retainer”. I sincerely hope no other family will ever experience such cruelty to their pets - there or any place else - because unfortunately there is no law protecting animals in cases like ours.

Mar. 25, 2021