Owners Of Tulsa Dog Daycare Speak Out After Video Surfaces Of Former Employee Dragging Dog

People gathered outside of a Tulsa dog daycare on January 21 after a video surfaced online showing a former employee dragging a dog.

The protestors said they want accountability, and the owners said they want to rebuild trust.

The video was taken in late 2020 but was recently leaked online by another former employee.

Until a week ago, Evan Reif took his dog to Paws On Pearl.

"I was sick to my stomach that's the only way I can describe it. That dog could've been severely injured," Reif said.

After seeing the video, he's frustrated the business kept the employee on for nearly another year.

On January 21, the owners Micheal and Joy Toburen tried to tell protestors changes they're making to make sure this doesn't happen again.

However, the protestors turned their backs and walked away.

"You put trust in your staff, and maybe sometimes we have just trusted our staff a little too much," Micheal said. "We put our trust in the wrong person. We thought things were being handled the way they should be. And for that we're sorry. We made a mistake and I just hope we can gain back the trust of the community.”

The employee in question was fired much later for unrelated reasons.

To help rebuild trust, Micheal and Joy are installing live cameras for people to watch their dogs.

They are beefing up training and employee background checks.

They also said they are fully cooperating with an investigation into the former employee from Tulsa's Office of Animal Welfare.