A French bulldog owner from Massachusetts received multiple photos of her 3-year-old dog while they were staying with a dog trainer in Connecticut.
But the dog had died almost two weeks earlier, while in the care of the trainer, according to the North Reading Police Department.
The 27-year-old woman from Haddam, Conn. is facing felony charges related to the dog training scam and will be charged with larceny over $1,200 by false pretense and the obstruction and misleading of a police officer, the department said. Officials did not release the woman’s name.
The owner of the French bulldog, a North Reading resident, had went to police on Sept. 16, and told officers their dog had not been returned by its trainer after an agreed-upon boarding and training period, the department said.
Officials found out that the 3-year-old dog had actually died on or about Sept. 4, almost two weeks prior. A necropsy of the dog’s body was performed by the University of Connecticut, which found the dog was emaciated when it died, the office said.
The trainer also lied and misled the police officers about the situation to purposely hinder the department’s investigation, police said. She will be summonsed by the North Reading Police to a district court, the office said.
The department also contacted the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals in connection to this case, and four other dogs in the trainer’s care were recovered and brought safely back to their owners in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut.
