Warning: this is a long one.
Location: Maryland
I want to preface this with our youngest (his name is Bo) is a great dog. We adopted him from a kill shelter about 5 months ago and they estimated that he was about 2, but we think he’s way younger. He was wild and overwhelming the first 2-3 months, but we’ve worked with him a lot and he’s leaps and BOUNDS better than he was when we first got him. He was brought in as a stray and never knew how to act in a household. He is truly such a sweetheart and still a puppy. That being said, he still doesn’t fully understand how to play with other dogs and read their cues, and I completely understand we still have work to do. He has never once been aggressive with my other two dogs, my parents two dogs, my brothers two dogs, and really any other dog we’ve encountered.
We took Bo to the groomer this morning for routine bath. This was probably the second time he’s been there, but we’ve been taking the other 2 to this place for years and never had an issue. They called us about an hour and a half into the appointment saying that Bo latched onto another dog’s neck and wouldn’t let go. I was extremely surprised to hear this because he’s truly never been aggressive. I even asked if they had the right dog because they did tell me that there was another dog there named Bo. If I knew he had any ounce of aggression, I would never take him in an environment like that. He can be a rough player (doesn’t have control of his body, bites our other dogs legs trying to get them to play, pulls at the scruff on their necks to get them to play) and I completely understand how it looks to people who don’t know him. It’s never malicious and you can tell he’s trying to play, but we ALWAYS correct it in the moment. Every single time. We have been working on this with him and while he’s not perfect, he’s far from aggressive.
Here’s where the legal stuff comes in: when we went to pick him up, the groomer brought Bo out and told us that we didn’t need to pay for the appointment. I asked if he was truly aggressive and trying to hurt the other dog, to which she said yes. The owners of the dog Bo allegedly attacked were also in the lobby and heard this, and the man said “is this the dog that attacked my fucking dog?” And I’m not exaggerating, without thinking, he completely Spartan kicked my 50lb dog and sent him flying across the lobby. This couldn’t have been his first time abusing a dog that’s how fluid it was. A screaming match between myself, my fiance and the man happened, but the woman he was with never said a word. I have my own theories about that.
Bo ran out of the building because he was terrified and was seriously centimeters from getting hit by a truck pulling a trailer on a busy road right out front. I called the police and they came, but the owners were gone by the time they got there. Everything was caught on CCTV which was provided to the police, and the owner of the groomer has been incredibly helpful. The cop originally said we can decide if we want to go to the courthouse and press charges and left it at that. Then she went back to her car, called the Sargent, and came back out saying they’re launching an investigation and getting detectives on this, so hold on going to the courthouse. My question is, why would they have detectives involved? It seems pretty cut and dry to us. Does this guy potentially have other charges or warrants?