‘The dog was not harmed.’ Owner of shuttered N.J. dog facility denies animals were abused.

In mild of several videos on social media, the homeowners of a pet dog working day treatment and coaching facility that was shut down on Monday denied that any animal was abused in a textual content concept despatched to some consumers Sunday.

The information, which was shared with NJ Advance Media by two purchasers of Bubba Luv Dog Teaching and Rescue of Rahway, was circulated broadly on social media just after numerous films confirmed alleged abuse of canines at the facility.

“On Saturday, March 11, 2023, a neighboring tenant of Bubba Luv Canine Coaching recorded and uploaded a movie clip of me engaging in a corrective behavioral reaction with a canine in our care that has been upsetting to some who have considered it on the internet. The puppy was not harmed and is continuing to keep with us,” explained the message, signed “jen and josh.”

Community information checklist the house owners of the business enterprise as Joshua Silverstein and Jennifer Deficiency. Cellular phone quantities listed in their names have been out of service or had no voicemail, and the company voicemail for Bubba Luv was complete Tuesday.

Silverstein did not answer to an e mail concept, and his LinkedIn page — listing him as the operator/ operator of Bubba Luv Pet dog Instruction and Rescue — and his Twitter account ended up taken down. A Fb account for the business enterprise was also taken down.

No 1 answered when a reporter knocked on the door of the organization Tuesday.

Law enforcement in Rahway said they were informed of video clips involving “possible animal cruelty.” Calling the movies “disturbing,” a police spokesman reported an investigation is underway, but the department could not give any extra comments.

(Warning: Some viewers may perhaps come across the content material of the movies, uncovered listed here and in this article, disturbing.)

Chelsea Hoeffler, who said her loved ones was a shopper of Bubba Luv, determined the person in numerous of the video clips as Joshua Silverstein.

In a single two-minute video, the male crouched around a dog and pulled it up by a collar or leash. Afterwards in the video clip, the pet dog sat passively at the man’s feet as he yelled.

“I want to stomp on your head until eventually your brains appear out of your ears,” the guy explained, yelling in the dog’s face.

Hoeffler said she acquired the owners’ concept from Silverstein by means of textual content on Monday, the day before one particular of her family’s dogs was meant to go to Bubba Luv for day care.

She stated her pet, Luna, a two-yr-aged Husky combine, would go to Bubba Luv’s weekly, and her father and stepmother’s pet dog Addie, a two-12 months-previous mix, went “regularly.”

Hoeffler stated she was shocked by the video clips, declaring Silverstein was usually “super laid again.”

She reported when Silverstein would choose on a new customer, they would go on a “pack walk” to make certain the new canine bought along nicely with Silverstein’s dog.

In the information to shoppers, the proprietors reported they had been in contact with house owners of a single of the puppies in the video clips, along with “local metropolis and animal welfare authorities.”

“The dog’s homeowners acknowledged they are common with their pet’s leash conduct and declined to push charges, knowledge that my steps had been to both equally continue to keep the dog risk-free and to see this behavioral function to its conclusion,” the information reported.

It said the pair has been obtaining “threatening messages from strangers,” so they have suspended appointments.

City officials shuttered Bubba Luv on Monday, putting up an unsafe framework observe on the front doorway of the developing on Key Road soon after the films surfaced. A few pet dogs located at the facility ended up “found to be in very good condition” and removed, Mayor Raymond Giacobbe said.

“We are so thankful that a member of the local community took the online video and was courageous enough to come ahead and report the incident to the Rahway (police),” Giacobbe reported.

The state Division of Shopper Affairs acquired two anonymous issues against Bubba Luv on Sunday, spokesman Robert Rowan explained, noting there were no complaints right up until the video clips surfaced.

Dawn Menendez, who mentioned she was a person of Bubba Luv’s to start with consumers when the facility opened in 2015, stated the house owners “genuinely liked animals.” She and her dog Shugie, a pit bull blend, had been clients for 8 decades up right until the enterprise closed.

The homeowners have been “really helpful” and “caring,” Menendez said.

But the films reminded her of an incident she reported happened final year when she picked up Shugie from day care at Bubba Luv.

“She was in suffering. She did not have mobility, and they reported they didn’t know what happened to her. That she was just squealing, they considered it’s possible what happened is one more puppy might’ve surprised her and she turned her head close to speedily, but they just did not know what was likely on,” Menendez mentioned.

She took her doggy to the emergency vet the upcoming working day. Shugie was diagnosed with compressed discs in her neck, she mentioned.

Menendez mentioned Silverstein appeared to under no circumstances take a trip from the small business.

“And I imagine it is just grow to be too significantly for him. They’re not bad individuals … they are good folks who are extremely group-minded who genuinely adore animals,” she said.

In its information to customers, the owners said the video “showed a canine biting their leash and spinning on their hind legs whilst exhibiting a snapping conduct sometimes referred to as ‘alligator roll.’ This is a common habits that necessitates repetitive education to deal with. I taken off the leash from their mouth applying a forceful upward leash correction procedure. The canine discontinued snapping, and rolling immediately after this corrective motion and resumed usual pursuits.”

One doggy trainer who viewed the films disputed that clarification, calling what he observed “cruel and unjustified actions.”

“As a trainer and as a human becoming, his steps were unconscionable and totally unnecessary under any circumstance,” stated Scott Fisher, operator of The Properly trained Canine in Elmwood Park, right after viewing the video clips. “There is completely no scenario in which managing a pet dog in that fashion is satisfactory or remotely satisfactory.”

The person who in the beginning posted a single of the films on Twitter, shot from a window of an apartment developing overlooking the Bubba Luv lawn, captioned the video: “I am publishing this in tears can’t stop crying I never fully grasp this cruelty. This facility has to shut down straight away!”

The movie was afterwards posted on YouTube.

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NJ Progress Media Investigate Editor Vinessa Erminio and personnel reporter Jeff Goldman contributed to this report.

Camille Furst may perhaps be reached at [email protected].

Karin Price Mueller could be achieved at [email protected]. Adhere to her on Twitter at @KPMueller.