Boy caught on camera throwing, flipping small dog in air

TENNESSEE -- A video making the rounds on social media has many animal lovers up in arms.

The video shows a child jumping on a small trampoline while tossing his pet Chihuahua in the air.

 

Sometimes the child catches the dog, while sometimes he doesn't and the dog lands on the ground.
The video also shows the 11-year-old boy flipping the dog.

"It was almost like you could hear the dog saying, 'Help me. Somebody please help me,'" said Elizabeth Lester, a neighbor.

Lester was there and told the boy to stop. When he refused, she called police and showed them the video captured on a neighbor's surveillance cameras.

"Somebody had to do something," Lester said.

Police came out Wednesday night. A pet welfare service officer also spoke to Helen Davidson, the child's grandmother, on Thursday morning.

"He owned up to it then and he has been punished for it," Davidson said. "The dog's not hurt. I'm getting ready to take her to the vet right now."

Davidson doesn't deny that it happened.

"She did the right thing calling the sheriff's department and having PAWS come out," Davidson said. "I agree wholeheartedly that he deserves the punishment that he's going to get for that."

 

 

  

  

  

  

  

 

Davidson also said her grandson suffers from several mental problems.

"We've been treating him since he was 4," she said. "He's on some pretty heavy anti-psychotic drugs."


Police said they have been called to the house several times before.

"It breaks my heart," Lester said. "I mean, that's an innocent little dog."

Davidson said her grandson has never harmed the dog or acted violently towards her. She asked those who have seen the video to hold their judgment.

"The people out there that are making comments, they don't know," she said. "They don't know the situation here."

I sympathize with her. It cannot be easy to raise this child. However, she needs to give those dogs away and he should not be around small children/animals unless supervised. Now that she knows what her grandson is doing to this poor dog - and has been doing probably for a long time - she has NO EXCUSE to ever let these animals be around this child.

She needs to find them new homes NOW. And this child needs immediate mental counseling to address this issue of him abusing animals or he will continue to do this - and worse.

 

After the pet welfare officer left the child's home, they went to the child's school to interview him.
The investigation is continuing into this incident. It is unclear at this point if the child will face any legal repercussions.

(WSMV - March 12, 2015)