No dog walker should be permitted to continue doing business after ignoring a dog, particularly if it occurs repeatedly. Scott Howley of Fun Dog in Toronto has lost two canines on his watch. Both incidents happened after he left the dog in a heated vehicle.
Even if the fatalities seemed to be an accident, Howley’s actions are not excused. He was responsible for the dogs’ care, and he failed to do so. The family of the most recent dog has yet to get an explanation and apology from him, and they just want him to accept responsibility for his actions. Many people who love dogs are now working to make sure that Howley never runs another dog business again.
Since 2014, Howley has been a dog walker for Jeff Cochrane and Anne Chirakal. He walked their last dog with no problems, so they asked him to walk their most current dog, Chilly, as well. Chilly is a four-year-old Samoyed that the couple adopted after his previous owners left him.
Howley usually picked up Chilly at 1:30 pm and dropped him off at around 3:30 pm. One day, it was 5 p.m. and there had been no touch from Howley. So Cochrane texted, followed by a phone call to the dog walker. Cochrane questioned Howley where Chilly was when he picked up the phone. Cochrane heard someone on the other end of the phone drop the phone and run away.
“I heard a door unlocked and I heard him yell his way to the vehicle, then open a door and scream some more.” “And then he kept shouting, ‘He’s de.ad, he’s de.ad.”
Howley apparently failed to take Chilly out of the vehicle after the stroll, leaving the Samoyed inside for two to three hours. Chilly was soaked in perspiration and his tongue was blue when Cochrane and Chirakal spotted him. Howley avoided them. Instead, his wife came there to deliver their d.e.ad dog to them. She pleaded with them not to file charges.
Chilly’s tragedy was not the first time Howley’s acts resulted in the d.e.ath of a dog. Teddy, a mixed breed, d.ied in 2018 after being left in a hot car. Teddy’s owner, Clarke Struthers, said that Howley pretended to have dropped Teddy off despite the fact that the dog was not at home. When Struthers saw the cameras in the home, Howley stated the dog had gone missing, so Struthers and his companions went in search of the “lost” pooch.
But, after a brief search, Howley ultimately revealed that he had Teddy, but that the dog had perished in a hot automobile. Struthers couldn’t comprehend the dog walker’s deception. Howley’s justification was that his father-in-law had passed away, and he was thus not in the correct frame of mind.
Cochrane remembered Howley approaching them in 2018 and giving them a hazy version of what happened to Teddy. Howley expressed it in a convincing manner, and since it was a one-time occurrence, Cochrane believed him. But now he regrets not being more careful back then. Chilly would still be alive if they had changed dog walkers.
“Our dog persi.shed alone and in agony, possibly afraid, with no understanding of what was going on,” said Cochrane. “It’s a massive betrayal, massive and entirely avoidable.”
Cochrane and Chirakal have said that they do not want Howley to face any charges, but instead seek alternative kinds of justice. They don’t want Howley to be able to care for animals any longer. They also want a sincere apology from him, which they have yet to get.
“We simply want him to convey how regretful he is about this on his own, not as the result of a police inquiry,” Cochrane added.
Chilly was extremely close to all of his family members, so the couple was distraught when they had to tell their children the news. They haven’t got the courage to empty his food and water bowls or remove his leash. They also said that they would be wary of trusting any dog walker in the future.
According to Howley, these two instances were sad accidents that resulted in the d.e.a.ths of two families. It’s awful that he can’t even face them and apologize.
