Pet salon under fire for how video shows groomer treating small dog

A pet salon in Venice has come under fire after a video surfaced on social media that allegedly shows the salon’s owner shaking and choking a small dog on a grooming table.

The video, posted on Facebook by Briana Brady on Nov. 10, has been viewed more than 400,000 times and shows Happy Puppy Pet Spa owner Phyllis Lucca putting both hands around the dog’s neck and pushing it down on the table.

Brady said she recorded the video while she was employed at the salon and says she has since quit because of Lucca’s treatment of the animals.

“Since she wants to abuse dogs and verbally abuse me, make this public, SHARE IT. Share it with everyone,” Brady wrote in the post. “This is what this horrible woman does every day to every dog. She even broke a dog's jaw two weeks ago.”

The dog Brady is referring to is a toy poodle named Pumpkin. According to Brady and Pumpkin’s owner, Lucca is responsible for breaking the poodle’s jaw last month after the dog was released from the spa. Pumpkin, his owner Cynthia Crowe said, came home from the spa with blood all over his mouth and bruises on his stomach, according to local reports.

The owner of the dog pictured in the video was contacted by the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office and told investigators he did not want to press charges and was happy with the services provided by the spa, according to agency’s public information officer Kaitlyn Perez.

According to the sheriff’s office, Crowe initially decided to press charges against Lucca, later rescinded, and then reconsidered. That report was forwarded to prosecutors.

“We are not working with her anymore on that,” Perez said. “Our report was forwarded to the State Attorney’s Office for their review.”

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This story was originally published November 14, 2017 at 4:53 PM with the headline "Pet salon under fire for how video shows groomer treating small dog."