Six dogs reported stolen, killed in dog walker's truck

veinglory

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People always argue when I say never to leave dogs alone in vehicles with temps above 70 degrees. Yes you will get away with it 9 times out of 10, but the margin for error is too small.
 

frimble3

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People always argue when I say never to leave dogs alone in vehicles with temps above 70 degrees. Yes you will get away with it 9 times out of 10, but the margin for error is too small.
And this woman apparently rolled the dice hundreds of times. (That must make dog walking so much easier, if you just lock them in your truck and wander off to do... whatever.) She claims that she only left the dogs for 10 minutes and they had water and a partly-open window. Uh-huh. There's going to be autopsies, or necropsies, or whatever they call it for dogs.
And her defense is apparently 'stress'.
She was so 'stressed' that she a) let the dogs die, and b) let the families believe, for a week, that their dogs had been stolen. I can only imagine the nightmares they had, of what their pets might have been stolen for.
And, it's not like she 'came forward' or 'confessed'. The Petsearchers people, bless their hearts, figured there was something off in her original story, and pressed her for more information, until she admitted what had happened. THEY told her she had to go to the police.
The police are apparently considering 'public mischief' charges, for the lie about the theft, and (I suppose) wasting everybody's time. I only hope that she's eventually banned from being in charge of any animals, ever. And that the families can sue her for pain-and-suffering.
 
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Lady MacBeth

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The "I was stressed" argument really does infuriate me. She dumped those poor dogs in a ditch and lied to everyone, ON CAMERA, for a week. The owners have been through hell. She should not be allowed near another animal again.
 

heza

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People always argue when I say never to leave dogs alone in vehicles with temps above 70 degrees. Yes you will get away with it 9 times out of 10, but the margin for error is too small.

It makes me so angry when people argue with me about this. We're in Houston; I take absolutely no chances with my dog in the heat. I've sat in my car in the heat with the windows cracked; I've made my husband do it. The effect is almost immediate. I make damn sure no one else thinks they can leave my dog in the car if they happen to be babysitting. If they give even a whiff of "Oh, it'll be fine," baby sitting is cancelled.

But I still get crap from people: "Oh, just leave her in the car. I can't believe you're going to make us drive all the way back to the house for this!" They get pissed off about the inconvenience to them if I won't subject my dog to slow cooking. It makes me so angry. Either people are morons, or they think dogs are just as important as coats you can just leave in the car while you go into a restaurant to eat.
 

Roxxsmom

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We've gotten really good at hitting drive throughs and eating in shady parks or patio areas with the dogs so we don't have to leave them in the car. Even in winter, a car can get uncomfortably warm if it's parked in the sun. And shade moves.

I noticed when I was driving in the UK on my last trip there that a lot of restaurants and rest areas have shaded parking reserved for people traveling with animals. This concept has never caught on in the US. Of course, many places in the states, summer temps are so warm that cars get way too hot, even if in the shade. So the shaded parking might send the wrong message--that it would be safe year round.

I remember my husband running into his office once for a few minutes, and I decided I'd wait in the car (it was a nice, pleasant day). He was gone a little longer than he expected, and by the time he got back, I was out of the car and waiting in the shade. Even in relatively mild, springlike sunshine, the inside of the car was way too warm for comfort after less than 10 min. Not lethally hot, maybe, but not pleasant at all. And a dog (or small child) of course has no choice but to endure it.
 

sassandgroove

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I've also read stories where the dogs accidently knocked the car into neutral and it rolled away. One into a river. Another thing that makes me cringe are seeing dogs in the back of pickups. They can jump out and get hurt or lost.

I didn't read the link, i'll get too upset. Our dogs are our family.
 

Roxxsmom

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I've also read stories where the dogs accidently knocked the car into neutral and it rolled away. One into a river. Another thing that makes me cringe are seeing dogs in the back of pickups. They can jump out and get hurt or lost.

It's illegal to ride with an unsecured dog in the back of a pick up truck here, but people still do it, sometimes even on the freeway. I suppose a cop has a conundrum when stopping someone for this violation. What if the dog jumps out and runs on the freeway or busy street when the car stops?

Then there was the person who had their dog tied in the back of a truck with a pinch collar, so every time the car changed vectors, the dog got stabbed in the neck.

Argh!
 

Brightdreamer

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I've also read stories where the dogs accidently knocked the car into neutral and it rolled away. One into a river. Another thing that makes me cringe are seeing dogs in the back of pickups. They can jump out and get hurt or lost.

Several years back, we saw something like that happen: on a freeway, a dog jumped out of the back of a pickup. We think it didn't get hit - there was a fair bit of confusion - but it bolted... and we never did find out what happened. The owner almost got creamed trying to run to it, as well.

When I see dogs in the backs of pickups, or leaning out of car windows (a bad idea for many, many reasons), I have one thought: please, not in front of me.
 

Undercover

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Shouldn't she go to jail for this? I'm not understanding why she isn't getting a much steeper penalty for this.
 

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@UC- I think they're still investigating.


Upon arriving at the location and seeing her beloved charges deceased, she went into a blind panic at the thought of notifying the families and the possible repercussions.”

No, she carried out a deliberate, prolonged plan to save her ass and continues to do so with her "blind panic" nonsense now that she's busted anyway.
 
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Lady MacBeth

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Last I heard, she appeared in court on several charges.

She faces six counts of animal cruelty.
The BC SPCA has said the deaths can be directly attributed to recklessness on behalf of the veteran dog walker, who was being paid to take care of the pets.
Paulsen has been charged with killing or injuring to animals, committing unnecessary pain and suffering to an animal, failing to provide the necessities of life for an animal, two counts of causing an animal to continue to be in distress, and reporting an offence was committed when it was not.

Let's hope for a stiff sentence.
 

frimble3

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And, for those interested, sentencing is here: http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world...ck-sentenced-to-six-months-in-jail/ar-AA8Gsb9

"Paulsen’s sentence will be followed by two years of probation. Jardine also ordered that Paulsen be banned from owning animals for 10 years and barred for life from operating a business caring for others’ animals."
Snippets for those not into links:
"When she returned to the vehicle after about 40 minutes",
"Paulsen had previously left dogs in her truck when she went horseback riding or ran errands, even though others had told her that she shouldn’t."
 

Lady MacBeth

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Thanks for posting the update, Frimble.
 

frimble3

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I figured that, even if it's old news, someday someone would come along and wonder what happened,
how it all ended.
It's not the kind of story that's going to stay in the news unless it happens again,
and someone wants to look for similar cases. Since I'm local to the story and it was
the cover story on all the local papers, I thought I'd add the coda.
 
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