Third dog owner comes forward, says beloved pet died in care of Arlington trainer Alan Brown
ARLINGTON (CBSNewsTexas.com) - A third dog owner has come forward saying their dog died while in the care of an Arlington trainer.
As in two previous cases, the owner of the German Shepherd named Hershey said he didn't find out about the death until he arrived to pick the dog up after boarding with K-9 Direction and trainer Alan Brown.
The death happened in early June, two weeks before the owners of a Bernese poodle mix say their dog died with Brown while they were in Europe on their honeymoon. The owner of another German Shepherd says his dog died while staying with the trainer in August of 2021.
The City of Arlington has cited Brown twice for running a business out of his home without a permit, but investigators with the animal services department did not find evidence for any violations concerning the treatment of the animals. Brown, whose website says he has been training dogs for 13 years, said last week outside his home that he was unable to comment on the cases.
Evan Malloy said he and his wife had considered their six-year-old dog's death a terrible mystery, until a family member sent them the CBS News Texas report about the other incidents.
The similarities in the cases stood out he said, including that Brown had given them no indication there was anything wrong with the dog until they arrived after a trip to Miami to pick her up.
"He just sort of stood there dumbfounded, like he was at a loss for words, and he just told me, Hershey died," Malloy said.
He said Brown told them he found the dog dead in her kennel the morning of June 11, and that he had taken her to a veterinarian's office where they would take care of cremation. Malloy said when he expressed a desire for he and his wife to see the dog one last time, Brown discouraged it because the dog would have been kept in a freezer for storage.
Malloy said Brown speculated Hershey may have experienced a case bloat, where a dog's stomach can fill with gas or fluid, and twist. After later speaking with their own vet about the situation, who Malloy said expressed skepticism that the healthy dog would have experienced the condition, they contacted the vet practice where Brown said he had taken Hershey. He said the office told him Hershey's body was brought in June 12, a day after the Malloys had expected to pick her up, and that the dog appeared to have been dead for some time.
The Malloy's were acquainted with Brown since 2009, when he trained another dog they owned. He said they stopped using him after a previous dog came home with some skin conditions requiring treatment, and would also often appear to have lost weight and be overly thirsty. Both of the first two owners who said their dogs died in Brown's care, also said necropsies showed their dogs were noticeably underweight.
They returned to him for training Hershey, who they said was very selective with people and appeared to respond well to Brown, and they had no major issues until this June.