Is ‘Board and Train’ a Good Idea? Learn From These Horror Stories: Your Dog Should Never Be Trained Without You
“Is ‘board and train’ a good idea?” “Can I send my dog away for training?” “Is ‘board and train’ good for aggressive dogs?” “How do I train my dog without me?” Some dog guardians are asking these questions, and the only answer that matters is one PETA’s given before: “Board and train” or any other programs that involve training a dog while their guardian isn’t present are a terrible idea and tend to exacerbate, not fix, any perceived problems. Take it from these horrified guardians who learned this lesson in the worst way possible.
October 2024
Local news outlet WNCN reported that Wake County Animal Control in North Carolina was continuing to investigate local dog trainer Charisma Johnston after she was arrested by local police on five counts of cruelty to animals. She allegedly had kept five dogs locked in plastic crates overnight in the back of a van without windows and intentionally deprived them of food. The dogs—two German shepherds and three Belgian Malinois—were taken to the county animal shelter to receive appropriate care.
According to WNCN, a North Carolina woman had sent her own dog, a German shepherd named Athena, to a facility to be trained by Johnston in Tennessee. At the time of Johnston’s arrest, the woman was hoping that Athena would be one of the dogs recovered by police, because she was trying to get the dog back from Johnston. The day after being arrested, Johnston reportedly sent a text message telling the woman that Athena had been hit by a car and cremated, but the dog’s owner hasn’t received any proof to confirm whether Athena is, in fact, dead or alive.
Another North Carolina woman had reportedly paid Johnston to train Graham, her daughter’s service dog. When Graham returned home, he appeared to be “skin and bones.” A veterinarian allegedly stated that he was malnourished and had hyper-extended tendons from a lack of exercise and being confined to a small cage.
September 2024
According to local news reports, a Missouri family is pushing for changes in how the state regulates board-and-train facilities after their dog was killed at a facility called K9 University in July 2024. Facility owner and dog breeder Vicki Russell offers grooming, boarding, daycare, and training services. The family left their Cavalier King Charles spaniel, Hazel, in Russell’s custody while they went on vacation. Their trip was cut short when Russell called to tell them that another dog had killed Hazel. They filed a complaint with the Missouri Department of Agriculture, which sent inspectors to K9 University.
State inspectors apparently found that Russell would leave dogs unsupervised in fenced areas. Her own dog, a standard poodle used for breeding, had “somehow” gotten from one area to another and attacked Hazel. Inspectors spotted a security camera, but Russell hadn’t saved the video of the attack, despite knowing that it was a record she was required to keep. She had been cited in 2023 for not keeping records after another dog died in her custody. State records indicate that a 5-pound Maltese mix named Marty was staying at the facility when he was left outside unsupervised and attacked by a poodle. He later died from his injuries. Reporters with First Alert 4 Investigates allege that this was the same poodle who attacked Hazel a year later. Marty’s owners allege that the state took no disciplinary action but cited Russell for not keeping Marty’s records and for putting him in a yard that wasn’t secure. In Hazel’s case, inspectors cited five violations, including putting the dog in a yard that wasn’t secure. Weeks later, inspectors returned to find that the fences still weren’t sufficient.
Rather than holding a formal disciplinary hearing over Hazel’s death, the state settled with Russell, fining her $1,000 and requiring physical separation between her breeding dogs and clients’ dogs. Hazel’s family said they wouldn’t have left their dog with Russell if they’d known about Marty’s death. The state doesn’t put information about dog boarders online as it does for daycares and restaurants, nor does it require that boarding licensees report the deaths of animals in their custody.
September 2024
Connecticut resident Jacqueline Witt, 64, was arrested by state troopers and charged with four counts of cruelty to animals and one count of tampering with physical evidence. The arrest warrant affidavit indicated that Witt ran a dog board-and-train business called Wagging Good with another woman and that a French bulldog in Witt’s custody had allegedly died on September 4, 2023. Reportedly, the dog’s owner wasn’t notified about his death and instead received false updates via text message about the supposed progress of the training. He alerted police when the dog wasn’t returned to him on September 15, 2023. Investigators determined that the women had found the dog dead in his crate and kept the body in a trash bag in the room where other dogs were boarded in crates until it began to bloat and then dumped it off the side of a road in another town. A necropsy later found that the animal was emaciated and had suffered from multi-organ congestion, indicating that he hadn’t been fed while at Witt’s residence and may have suffered from heatstroke.
Upon taking Witt into custody, officials also removed four dogs from her residence. The owners of those dogs allegedly told authorities that the animals had suffered from physical and psychological issues due to suspected neglect while in Witt’s custody. The surviving dogs had reportedly lost weight and showed signs of severe separation anxiety, insomnia, nightmares, and panic when placed inside a crate. One of the dogs reportedly had giardia and an ear infection, while another had hair loss and numerous scabs from lying in “something caustic” as well as a respiratory infection that didn’t respond to antibiotics.
Less than a week after Witt’s arrest, Connecticut authorities charged Josephine Ragland, 28, with four counts of cruelty to animals. News reports revealed that she was the other person who operated Wagging Good and was allegedly responsible for the death of the French bulldog in September 2023.
August 2024
Alabama residents Stacey and Kris Sullivan are suing Simmons Banded Retrievers and its owner, Lacey Simmons, claiming fraud, breach of contract, and negligence because their dog, Remi, was returned to them after spending a month at the facility “a skeletal shell of himself … reeking of feces and urine with raw sores all over and new skittishness suggesting he’d been through hell.” The Sullivans also filed complaints with the local police and sheriff’s office. They had given Remi to the board-and-train facility in late June in the hope that he could be trained not to bark as much. When they picked him up more than a month later, they rushed him to an emergency veterinary clinic. His ribs, hips, and spine were prominent, and he’d lost nearly 30% of his bodyweight. His fur was saturated with urine and feces, there were cuts on his paw pads and all over the rest of his body, and he was limping. Radiographs revealed what looked like wire and rocks in his stomach, and he was infested with parasites and so dehydrated that he needed IV fluids. Additionally, he has shown “trauma- and fear-based behavior” since returning from the facility. The lawsuit aims to prohibit the business and its owner from further operations.
August 2024
After Kira and James Melbert dropped off their dog, Bentley, at a board-and-train facility in Texas, they were devastated to find that he had reportedly been left outside for nearly an hour in 101-degree weather and died of heatstroke.
July 2024
After several videos went viral showing North Carolina dog trainer Matthew Neal allegedly abusing dogs in his care at East Carolina Retrievers, local authorities charged Neal with nine felony counts of cruelty to animals in Lenoir County and two misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals in Duplin County. According to local news outlet WCTI, the arrest warrants detail that law-enforcement officials believe Neal is responsible for “beating dogs with his fists and a PVC pipe, using shock collars to the point of causing dogs to vomit and have bloodshot eyes, and choking the animals.”
July 2024
Ohio resident Madyson Bauknecht, owner and operator of Empowered K-9s of Findlay—a boarding and training facility—was charged with two counts of cruelty to animals for leaving her own animals without care for two weeks. Law-enforcement officers responding to a complaint found three living dogs and a dead puppy at Bauknecht’s residence. The animals were seized, and Bauknecht must pay more than $2,000 for their care in protective custody of the local animal shelter.
July 2024
Following the deaths of two dogs at Florida board-and-train facility Pawsitively Paradise, dog trainer Nikki Camerlengo is facing two felony charges of cruelty to animals. Necropsy reports obtained by local news outlet WPTV indicate that both dogs, Flurrie and Beau, died of blunt force trauma.
March 2024
Investigators in Ohio filed more than 250 misdemeanor and felony charges against Jason Thomas Jones, Tabatha Lee Taverna, Jennifer Lynn Long, and their business, Dayton Dog Trainer LLC, which was advertised as a board-and-train service. The charges include theft, cruelty to companion animals, and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. They allegedly stole more than $200,000 from almost 70 dog owners who trusted them to train and care for their animals. In reality, the dogs were allegedly “staked out in [a] field” with “excrement on them.” Reports indicate that some dogs had skin rashes. One named Tater was underweight, missing fur, and had “rotten” teeth that appeared to have been broken or filed down, and one or two had to be euthanized after being in the defendants’ custody. At least one dog, Nico, who had been enrolled for training to reduce aggressive behavior, came back to his family far more reactive and fearful than before. Jones claimed to have been a former dog trainer for the military and police. In June, he and Dayton Dog Trainer LLC were indicted on 77 additional charges, including theft by deception and cruelty to companion animals.
January 2024
Wisconsin dog trainer Rachel Moderson was charged with cruelty to animals for allegedly abusing a dog named Milo while she was employed at You and Your Dog training facility. The dog was enrolled in “service animal” training at the facility when Moderson reportedly pulled him “aggressively” by the leash and hanged him by the leash multiple times. Video submitted to the police reportedly shows the dog hanging one or two feet off the ground, thrashing in the air, and “stiffening up and going limp on multiple occasions.” The video also reportedly shows her “jerking Milo’s neck, using both hands to pull the dog upward. Moderson again hanged Milo by the leash with all four feet off the ground, with the dog dangling, gasping for air and yelping,” while the woman screams, “Knock it off!” and “No!” This training technique, also known as helicoptering or “stringing up” a dog, was once considered standard for training police working dogs.
August 2023
When newlyweds Masera and Emeka Ndukwe of Dallas left their 1-year-old dog, Brooklyn, at Alan Brown’s “board and train” facility before going on their honeymoon, they had no reason to believe that their animal companion would die in a cluttered van two days later. The facility had good online reviews, and the Ndukwes had conducted a phone and an in-person interview with Brown beforehand. However, just two days after being dropped off, Brooklyn was dead.
For several days after Brookyln’s death, Brown reportedly led the couple to believe that the dog had been doing well at his facility, claiming via text that the canine had been thriving in training classes and that things were going “great.” However, the Ndukwes grew worried when Brown failed to provide the promised photo updates. It wasn’t until the newlyweds told the trainer that their friends were going to pick up Brooklyn that he informed them that the dog had died.
Another dog, Hershey, allegedly died in Brown’s custody just two weeks prior to Brooklyn’s death. The Ndukwes eventually discovered an online review claiming that a 1-year-old German shepherd named Booster had also died in Brown’s charge after having been left in the heat.
A year later, Brown pleaded guilty to one count of cruelty to animals on the condition that he receive two years of deferred adjudication, which is similar to probation but doesn’t appear on a criminal record. Brown won’t be able to board dogs, but he may still be able to train them.
May 2023
After the death of a young German shepherd named Gunner at an Alabama “board and train” facility made headlines, seven additional guardians came forward to say that their dogs had also been traumatized or even died—suffering from starvation, injuries, or infections—while boarded at this training facility. Gunner’s guardian, a nurse, said that her dog “definitely died of wounds and torture.” The owner of Iron Grip Dog Training and Boarding, Dylan Shotwell, was arrested and charged with two counts of cruelty to animals. His wife, Savanah Shotwell, was also arrested on the same charge and hindering prosecution.
May 2023
Following the death of a dog named Cyrus at Golden Grove Kennels, Kentucky dog breeder and trainer Morgan Barrick was arrested and charged with cruelty to animals. She had faced the same charge in late 2021. According to the dog’s owner, Cyrus was “starved and tortured. He had burnt testicles, burns on his abdomen, burns on his nose and he was starved from 140 pounds to 96 pounds.”
April 2023
Florida dog trainer Blessing Knighten was arrested on cruelty-to-animals charges for reportedly hanging dogs by the neck; yanking a dog’s leash continuously, causing him to choke; hitting a dog with her hands and with a leash; and kicking a dog in the muzzle multiple times, causing the animal to yelp. Knighten allegedly claimed that the owner of the training facility had abused the animals and blackmailed her into using abusive training methods.
March 2023
Massachusetts dog-training facility Falco K9 was shut down following customer complaints that dogs there were abused. Shortly after the business closed, its owner, Tyler Falconer, was charged with three counts of cruelty to animals and three counts of a dog tethering confinement violation. The criminal charges were related to the treatment of three different dogs, all of whom had allegedly lost significant weight. Falconer was a firefighter at the time of the alleged abuse, but he resigned after he was arrested. In 2024, he was sentenced to two years of probation and prohibited from owning any animals or operating any business involving animals for three years.
January 2022
The Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office in Texas “is actively investigating an animal cruelty report regarding a video on social media depicting the alleged mistreatment of a dog.” The footage (below) appears to show a trainer—apparently from TyCalK9 Dog Training Center—pull a dog named Mugshot by the leash, hang him, swing the dog over his head, and then slam him to the floor. You can hear Mugshot (who appears to be a puppy weighing around 30 pounds) cry out on impact and then whimper as he tries to get up. The impact appears to have caused a lot of pain in Mugshot’s hips, and you can see him try to pull away from the apparent trainer as he sits up.
According to TyCalK9’s website, past clients of the training center (which has apparently closed since the video above went viral) include celebrities. But the star treatment wasn’t extended to Mugshot nor, surely, to countless other dogs who were left in this apparent trainer’s hands. The investigation by the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office is still ongoing, but the office did provide some good news: Mugshot “is not at the training facility” and “is healthy and doing well.”
Keep reading to discover more about why leaving your dog with a stranger is confusing and scary for your canine companion and how it’s an invitation to disaster.
November 2021
After picking Odie up in November from a three-week stint at In Touch Dog Training & Rehabilitation in Wisconsin, Luke Janssen, Odie’s guardian, said that the dog “had bruising on his chest that was explained to [him] as a result of sleeping on the ground in the kennels.” Forcing a dog to sleep on concrete for even one day is cruel enough, but a witness (apparently Shaunna Herrick, a staff member who’s since resigned from In Touch) also sent the security camera footage below to Janssen:
(Warning: Graphic content)
Janssen described how in the footage, the trainer “picks up Odie by the leash and essentially hangs him for a period of time and also from that position slams him to the ground for sure one occasion, maybe multiple.” The out of touch trainer lifts Odie by the leash so that all four of his paws are off the ground for roughly seven seconds. The dog’s alleged abuser also drops what appears to be a shock collar remote, picking it up from the ground after hanging the dog by the neck and leash again.
“If someone saw something like that happening to my dog I would want to know,” said Herrick, who also spoke with the local sheriff’s office, which on December 21 confirmed that it was actively investigating the incident.
Janssen shared his and Odie’s story, including on Reddit and Facebook, so that other guardians will stay far away from places like In Touch:
I wanted to put it out there and generate some interest because I want to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else’s [canine companion] and obviously no other innocent dogs are harmed.
Odie may not have been this facility’s only alleged victim—since Janssen shared his story, other guardians have come forward alleging abuse, too. “My dog was also injured here,” one said. “[My Lab] came home with fur off her front elbows and to this day growls and attacks if you touch her hind feet,” said another.
A second video is reportedly being reviewed by local law-enforcement officials, too—according to WBAY—an ABC affiliate in Green Bay—a second video showing In Touch’s owner allegedly abusing another dog (6-month-old Ace) has since surfaced.
“Ace was underneath the table and you could see that [the company’s owner] was trying to do something with him,” said Ace’s guardian, Jenni Wright. “Ace was scared, he wouldn’t come out so [the company’s owner] grabbed him by the leash and yanked him across the floor and he probably slid about ten to fifteen feet across the floor.”
July 2021
When a tree crushed Graciela Rodriguez’s New Mexico home during a storm and she had to evacuate, she decided to board her canine companion Thor at April’s K911 Academy—a nearby facility owned by April Nastasi that claims to offer obedience training and apparently boarded dogs, too—for a few days. The decision seemingly almost cost Thor his life.
On the same day that Rodriguez dropped him off, Nastasi reportedly texted her to say that Thor had been in a fight but was unharmed. At Rodriguez’s request, Nastasi apparently texted her photos of Thor as the days went on, and Rodriguez said she grew more concerned. According to Yahoo! News, when Rodriguez tried to picked Thor up (a day early), Nastasi refused to let her take him because he’d sustained “injuries from the fight a few days prior” and was “being treated for a puncture wound and hematoma.” Rodriguez reportedly called local law enforcement, and Nastasi was forced to return Thor to his guardian. He “was covered in bandages and was wincing in pain” and “was transported to an El Paso animal hospital.” Nastasi—who apparently was licensed to train dogs but not to board them—reportedly had shocked Thor with a cattle prong six times.
“Once the dog fight ended, Nastasi said she put Thor in a kennel outside for two days while she attended to other matters,” Yahoo! News reported. She said that she later noticed an odor “of rotting flesh from the kennel.” Nastasi—apparently not a licensed veterinary professional of any kind—reportedly then administered antibiotic and anti-inflammatory drugs to Thor herself. The El Paso animal hospital veterinarian reportedly called Nastasi’s bandage job “makeshift” and described Thor’s wounds as “severely infected,” “neglected for multiple days,” and “‘horrifying.’” Thor apparently required multiple surgeries, but he is “hanging in there.”
March 2021
A German shepherd named Scout was picked up early from a facility in Virginia after someone notified his guardian that the puppy was in bad shape. Ultimately, Scout was euthanized in order to relieve his suffering from the trauma of being kept inside a crate for hours on end. After authorities were alerted, 12 other dogs were found on the property confined to crates and kennels without bedding and standing in their own urine and feces. They didn’t have access to food or water, and at least one dog was severely underweight with untreated injuries to all four feet, which required emergency veterinary treatment. Two years later, the Virginia Attorney General’s Office announced the successful prosecution of dog trainer Shawn Deehan, who pleaded guilty to two felony cruelty-to-animals charges and five misdemeanor charges of a boarding establishment’s failure to provide adequate care for animals.
Why ‘Board and Train’ Is Bad
We all need time to learn something new, and dogs are no different. The best part about interacting positively with your dog is that it’s a great way to help you understand what your best friend is trying to communicate. But to do so, your participation and dedication are a must. This is why a good dog trainer will be training you—and under no circumstances should your dog be trained unless you are present.
PETA’s own undercover investigation into Inghram’s Sit ’N Stay Dog Academy, which claimed to use “humane and caring methods,” revealed that at the Tampa, Florida, training and boarding kennel, dogs were confined to cages for hours on end, sometimes without water or shade, even as temperatures rose into the mid-90s.
Dogs sometimes escaped from the cages and got into fights. Instead of comforting a dog who was bleeding from a serious wound sustained in an attack by another dog, a manager repeatedly yanked on her collar and roughly attempted to tie her mouth shut with a leash.
To learn more about the reasons why positive reinforcement and force-free training work, why aversive training methods don’t, what to do if your canine friend becomes frustrated or anxious when left alone at home, and why the best person to train your dog is you, check out PETA’s comprehensive “How to Choose a Dog Trainer” guide.
Written by Katherine Sullivan
