Advertisement Dog day care says dog seen being punched was aggressive, had to be euthanized Surveillance video shows doggy day care employee pin down, punch dog in head Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Video obtained by Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 shows a man punching a St. Bernard several times in the head and sitting on the dog before delivering a second series of punches.According to court documents, a citation was issued for an offense at 548 Baldwin St. in Bridgeville for an incident on Sept. 7, 2015. WTAE found that address is the location of The Canine Club, a dog grooming, boarding, day care and training facility.VIDEO: Watch Marcie Cipriani's reportThe citation stated “Reed Justin Davis beat a dog that belongs to another.” Davis, of Upper St. Clair, is 21. An officer filed the charges for summary offenses of animal cruelty on Dec. 29, 2015.Davis was found guilty on one count Wednesday.The video given to WTAE by a source close to the investigation, shows a man with the St. Bernard. A woman was in the yard too. The dog then runs to the woman. A short time later, it jumps toward the man who is still holding a tug toy in his hand.As the video continues, the man walks toward the back door of the business and the dog jumps again. That’s when video shows the man getting the dog to the ground, punching it, then sitting on the dog before punching it several more times.The woman is seen putting her hands up in the air and stepping away.Officers say the dog was bring playful before being attacked, but representatives from The Canine Club defended Reed , saying the dog was being aggressive.A source said the St. Bernard dog in the video was a rescue dog that was at the Bridgeville business to be socialized. The source said the dog was kept in its kennel most of the day and when it was allowed outside it was high energy. The Canine Club released the following statement:"We are writing in response to the story about the incident with the St Bernard."First of all, despite people's quick conclusions about the video, when the dog was jumping up, he was growling and attempting to bite the face of our staff member. The dog was not "trying to play". The dog continued to growl and bite even when he was on the ground. The other staff members, including those in the video, became afraid of the dog and didn't try to help."We point out that the dog was not injured in any way."By way of background, this dog was the 6th rescue St Bernard brought to our facility by the St. Bernard Rescue Foundation, Inc. and all prior dogs had been fine and without incident."This dog came in after (NAME REMOVED), who represented the Rescue and had arranged prior stays, implored us to take him."Unfortunately, this dog immediately started biting at staff members consistently and on a daily basis. The bites were almost always aimed for the face."Worse yet the dog bit the St. Bernard rescue volunteer who brought him to us on the face and drew blood a few days after he was dropped off. When we realized the nature of the dog, We implored the St. Bernard rescue to take the dog to a trainer but were repeatedly told we would have to wait."The dog was taken by the Rescue at one point to be neutered and was then to go to a foster, however he was returned the same day as he attacked and tried to bite the vet and the vet then refused to treat the dog."In the end, the dog was 'put down' by the St. Bernard rescue shortly after he left our facility as he attempted to attack 3 other people on 3 separate occasions."The rescue organization refused to provide us with any background information about the dog both when they brought him in and after they took him away."In speaking with others involved with the rescue we learned that the dog was feral, that he was never in a home and that he was captured while running wild by a dog catcher in Ohio or West Virginia. It is as a result of this situation last year we stopped taking rescue dogs whose history could not be documented and/or who did not come from a family environment."Despite, this incident volunteers from the rescue have brought new dogs to us since and again without incident."All of our staff has now gone through training with an outside professional in how to deal with and handle aggressive and dangerous dogs like this one."We invited and continue to invite, the local humane officer to come and monitor our facility. To date he has declined."We hope that you and the public can understand that there is more to this story and that unfortunately this dog had to be euthanized by the very group that was trying to rescue it when they finally accepted how dangerous and aggressive the dog was."We are a small family business and we love and care for family dogs."Get the WTAE Pittsburgh's Action News 4 App