Maryland: Christina Thornhill claims it's no big deal that Deedra Hager hit a customer's dog with a wiffle ball bat. However, I guarantee that if that were my dog I would go HAM on them

MARYLAND -- A pet salon in Salisbury has come under recent scrutiny after a video went viral showing  a dog being hit with a wiffle ball bat.

The video, which was viewed over 150,000 times before being deleted Friday morning, showed Deedra Hager hitting a dog with a plastic bat as a form of punishment.

 

  

"I've been reflecting it in a more positive way," says Hager. "I mean, people are going to think what they're going to think anyway, and I know I have done nothing wrong, so I have nothing to feel guilty for."

Regardless of whether it falls under the legal definition of animal abuse or not, a smart business owner would not get on TV and behave so snotty. Deedra Hager's smirking face is irritating. 

 

 

The family who owns the business, says that this is a common practice.

"The correction method that we use is a 2-tap on the butt and a redirect. We use a plastic, hollow wiffle ball bat that was rated to be used with children ages two to five," says Christina Thornhill, manager of the Salon. "The employee didn't do anything wrong.. she did her job. She stopped what could have been a fatal fight."

Why don't you ask the dog owner what they thought of Deedra smacking their dog? Would you be happy if this were your dog? I can see her tapping the dog to get its attention and re-direct it to stop a potential fight between dogs, but I don't like how they're trying to minimize it. If this wiffle ball bat is for "ages 2-5", would you be OK with seeing your babysitter smacking your 3-year-old child with it?

The video was shot from the window of a neighboring business, and on Friday, 47 ABC reached out to the woman who shot and posted the video, but her and her place of employment declined to comment.

 

The pet salon says this isn't the first time they've had a run in with that business. According to them, that same business had called animal control on them 2 years ago. but they say animal control found no wrongdoing.

Um, no. I doubt that. Likely they couldn't prove that the dog being beaten suffered any physical injuries, which is typically required for a cruelty charge. Just because your babysitter doesn't leave bruises on your kid doesn't mean your kid isn't being abused by him/her.

Since the video went up, the family says they've received death threats and negative comments, making them worry about the future of their business.

"My fear is that whenever someone wants to Google us, Yelp us, Facebook us (reviews), it just pops up animal abusers with no just cause, says Thornhill. "If you have walked through our doors, and met our animals they're happy."

47ABC reached out to multiple pet trainers around the region trainers in the region to see if this method of training was common practice and all declined to comment on the matter as well.

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(WMDT - July 21, 2017)