‘I was in shock:’ Owner calls for change after service dog in training mauled to death at Gatineau dog daycare

A Gatineau man is heartbroken and is calling for change after his golden retriever was killed by another dog at a daycare. CTV’s Katie Griffin reports.

Warning: some readers may find content in this story disturbing

A Gatineau, Que. man is heartbroken and calling for change after a horrifying attack at a dog daycare and boarding facility last week left his beloved golden retriever dead.

“I was in shock,” said Félix Lanthier.

Lanthier dropped one and a half-year-old Austin off at Kaninou, a dog daycare and boarding facility while he was away on a business trip.

On March 17, the same day he was due to pick Austin up, Lanthier received a call from someone at Kaninou saying Austin had been bitten and was being taken to an emergency veterinary hospital in Ottawa.

Hours later, he was told Austin had died.

“His condition was a lot worse than what they told me,” Lanthier said. “The veterinarian told me that it was the worst attack she’s seen in 15 years of career.”

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Lanthier said the company’s owner paid for Austin’s vet bills but has stopped returning messages. He said he wants answers about how the attack could’ve happened.

“The information I got from the daycare was not what the veterinarian reported to me, so I was really confused. So that’s when I opened a bag and I saw my dog. I just looked at a guy, and I was like, are you kidding me? My dog didn’t get bit. He got bitten to death,” he said.

“There were more than 30 lacerations on his body, open wounds. Some were like golf ball size, it was crazy.”

CTV News reached out to Kaninou for comment but did not hear back before deadline.

Gatineau Police are investigating the incident. Over the weekend, officers went with animal control to the property and confirmed the dog involved in the attack was still there but haven’t been able to speak with the business owner.

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“People have to understand that when police officers and animal control are dealing with municipal bylaws, our powers of intervention are pretty limited,” said Const. Patrick Kenney.

“That’s why we need the cooperation of everybody involved, so the investigators are able to see if there was any negligence of some kind.”

Austin was just two weeks away from officially graduating as a service dog. He’d been a fixture at Lanthier’s chiropractic clinic since he was a puppy, with his activities documented on social media.

“Living without Austin is hard,” Lanthier said.

“Patients are literally crying. Patients would come in just to see Austin and then he would comfort them, sometimes they would be scared of having their treatments. They would be anxious so Austin would be there for them.”

Lanthier said he plans to file a lawsuit and since sharing his story publicly, has heard from many other dog owners with similar complaints.

“What I’m hoping is that Austin didn’t die for nothing. I want justice. I want this place to close down,” he said.