North Texas families speak out after dogs die in the care of trainer
NORTH TEXAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) - Two North Texas families say their dogs died during summer stays with the same dog trainer in Arlington.
In each case, first in August 2021 and then again in late June this year, the dog owners say they didn't find out about the death until they attempted to pick their dog up.
Both owners said the trainer, Alan Brown who runs K-9 Direction out of his Arlington home, told them the deaths happened after the dogs had been training or playing outside on 100-degree days.
The city of Arlington has cited Brown twice for operating an unpermitted business from his home, but a spokesman said there was not enough evidence for a citation for a violation concerning the treatment of animals.
Reached at his home Friday, Brown said he was unable to comment on what happened. Both owners did speak with CBS Texas, saying they want to shed light on the deaths and are still seeking justice.
"I was in disbelief," said Trent Robinson, whose dog Booster died in 2021. "I couldn't believe it happened again, from the same guy."
Robinson said he left his uniquely colored silver and white German Shepherd with Brown while he was on a five-day vacation to Mexico, and expected some training to happen during the short stay.
When he returned to pick the dog up though, Robinson said Brown asked to meet him at a veterinary clinic. There Robinson says Brown told him he found Booster dead inside his kennel earlier that morning.
Robinson says he was told his dog had played outside the day before and never cooled off when the day was done.
He said Brown couldn't tell him how much water the dog had, and that Brown discouraged him from taking the dog's remains to Texas A&M for a necropsy. Robinson did it anyway, but the results were inconclusive he said, due to too much decomposition.
In 2022 Robinson sued Brown in a Tarrant County small claims court, winning a $7,500 judgment, but he said he has never received payment.
"Dogs don't just randomly die," Robinson said. "He didn't show much remorse. There was no apology. But I had hoped and thought that he would be more careful in the future."
Emeka and Masera Ndukwe said they were unaware of Booster's death when they decided to board their Bernese Mountain Dog and Standard Poodle mix Brooklyn with K-9 Direction in June.
They were headed on a three-week European honeymoon and found Brown recommended in online dog groups. His website says he has been training dogs for 13 years.
"We went through, I thought, a really exhaustive process to find the right place," Emeka Ndukwe said.
They said Brown had agreed to regularly send pictures and updates to them, but they never received any.
Five days into the trip, Masera Ndukwe said she heard the summer's first heat wave was hitting Texas.
"Brooklyn doesn't do well in the heat at all," she wrote to Brown in a text message. "Is he staying cool?"
Brown didn't reply until the next day.
"I did not know Brooklyn had difficulty with the heat," he wrote. "I will fill you in completely later this afternoon."
By the weekend, Masera Ndukwe was so uneasy she says one of her friends volunteered to go pick Brooklyn up and keep the dog until they returned. Emeka Ndukwe said that was when Brown returned their phone call, telling them their dog had died four days earlier.
The Ndukwe's friends recorded a video of their conversation with Brown in front of his house as he explained what happened.
He said he put Brooklyn in his air-conditioned van, while he took his own dog outside for training. Brooklyn was unresponsive he said, when he returned.
"I opened the door, looked at him, he didn't look, quite right. I grabbed him, pulled him out, started performing CPR on him," he says on the video.
A written statement from an employee at Creekside Pet Care Center however says the events Brown described actually happened on a Sunday evening, two days after the Ndukwe's had dropped Brooklyn off. The statement given to the Ndukwe's says Brown called asking how to perform CPR on a dog, and that his wife was driving them to a closer veterinary clinic. However, the statement says Brooklyn was pronounced dead at that clinic when they arrived.
It was seven hours after that phone call, the statement from Creekside says, that Brown arrived at their clinic, after midnight, and wanted to drop the dog off for cold storage. The statement says he told Creekside he was making every effort to contact the owners but that it was difficult because they were overseas.
The Ndukwe's said Brown never attempted to reach the emergency contact they had listed. In the video with their friends, he says he was worried about the memory they would have of the death happening on their anniversary.
"We don't know what he did, but we do know what he did was negate necropsy," said Emeka Ndukwe. "There's no hope in us having any conclusive account of what happened because he was out way too long and then put in cold storage."
CBS Texas could not find any additional reports of dogs dying in Brown's care.
The Ndukwe's are still hopeful there will be an additional investigation into the deaths. Their Facebook post about the ordeal went viral last month.
"So I'm hopeful by raising awareness and shedding light he can never touch an animal again," Emeka Ndukwe said. "And that he is brought to justice for what he's done to Brooklyn and what he's done to Booster."