Death Of Dog After Westminister Leaves Handler Suspicious

[Sheridan]

From The New York Times

Dog’s Death After Westminster Leaves Handler Suspicious

By MARY PILON

Published: February 27, 2013 85 Comments

Cruz was a fluffy marshmallow of a dog, a prizewinning Samoyed who flew commercial, not in the cargo hold; scarcely touched the sidewalk; and competed at this month’s Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. Related

On the eve of the competition, Cruz shared a steak with his longtime handler and settled in for the night at a hotel in Midtown Manhattan.

But before the week was out, Cruz was dead, and his snow white body was at the center of a high-stakes mystery, a whodunit that has rattled the show world and ignited tensions between animal activists and purebred-champion breeders.

Cruz’s survivors — the handler and at least one of his owners — have not ruled out foul play.

They have spent the days since his death retracing every paw step, replaying conversations with onlookers, racking their brains to understand what happened.

A necropsy was not performed on Cruz, 3, who died in Lakewood, Colo., where he was competing in another show. The cause of death remains unclear, but he had symptoms that strongly resembled those of dogs that had ingested rodent poison, the veterinarian who treated him said. She said she felt it was unlikely that Cruz had been deliberately poisoned.

Although experts said intentional poisonings of show dogs were extremely rare, such stories have long circulated inside the cloistered and heated world of canine competitions. Poisoning allegations at Westminster date to 1895, when eight dogs were poisoned the morning before the competition. “Jealousy believed the motive,” a front-page headline in The New York Times read.

Robert Chaffin, Cruz’s handler, accompanied Cruz to New York for the Westminster competition and spent nearly every minute of the trip by his side, paying close attention to anything the dog tried to eat. He said he believed that extreme animal rights activists, who have called dog shows and purebred competitions inhumane, might have been responsible.

“Unfortunately, dog shows have been plagued by some of these people for years,” Chaffin said. “I’ve heard horror stories about other people’s dogs having their setups tampered with, being poisoned, but I never thought it would come to me.”

Chaffin made clear that he had uncovered no evidence that Cruz had been deliberately poisoned, and he acknowledged that it was possible that the dog had accidentally swallowed poison. But he was far from comfortable calling the case closed.

Chaffin said he remembered a stranger at the Westminster show who glared at him and made a disapproving remark about Cruz’s vocal cords having been removed to quiet his bark, a process known as debarking.

“It would have been easy for someone to throw something in his cage,” Chaffin said.

Lynette Blue, one of Cruz’s owners, said she called the New York Police Department shortly after Cruz died but had not heard back. A police spokeswoman was not able to immediately confirm that she called.

Blue said she was still considering whether to take further action.

Animal rights groups have clashed with dog show exhibitors before, taking issue with the breeding of purebred dogs, seizure and rescue practices, the very existence of dog shows and a plethora of legislation nationwide related to dog ownership.

In recent years, the organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has sent representatives to the Westminster show to try to break into the exhibition ring and distribute leaflets near the venue, said Ingrid Newkirk, the group’s founder and president.

While she repeated her opposition to the Westminster show on Wednesday, Newkirk adamantly said that her organization had nothing to do with Cruz’s death.

“PETA does not sanction that,” she said. “It’s so scurrilous; it’s so low to even suggest it.”

In a relatively short career, Cruz soared into the top rankings for Samoyeds, and while he did not trot away with a prize at Westminster, his owners said he had a promising career ahead of him.

“We have been devastated and in shock,” Blue said. “This is one of the most painful experiences of my life.”

On Feb. 16, after Cruz began vomiting blood, Chaffin took him to Animal Critical Care and Emergency Services in Lakewood, where he was hooked up to an intravenous drip and received oxygen.

Within a few hours, he was dead.

Experts said there were several possibilities to explain the rapid decline.

One was that Cruz may have had an undiagnosed, rare genetic disorder, like hemophilia. But Cruz had no history of trauma or such blood disorders in his bloodline, Blue said.

Poisoning, whether intentional or not, seemed the most likely explanation. Blue declined for Cruz to have a necropsy because she was confident that he swallowed poison, she said.

Veterinarians said his symptoms resembled those of dogs who had ingested mouse and rat poisons, which usually take three to five days to cause physical symptoms in a dog. That would mean Cruz would probably have ingested any poison while he was in New York.

Molly Comiskey, the Colorado veterinarian who treated Cruz, said: “Dogs are dogs. It’s not anyone’s fault. They eat stuff; they get into things; they make bad decisions.”

Chaffin, Cruz’s handler, said it would have been difficult for Cruz to accidentally eat poison. He said he carefully checked every corner of the room he and Cruz shared in the New Yorker Hotel, specifically looking for rat poison. He said he found the room, and the hotel’s accommodations for dogs over all, to be safe.

Ann Peterson, the hotel’s president and general manager, said that the hotel did not use harmful pesticides and that it even set up an area inside the hotel to give canine guests a safe place to exercise.

“I couldn’t imagine it happening here,” she said.

As Cruz’s owners accepted condolences from well-wishers in the show community and beyond in recent days, Blue said she could not stop from speculating about what happened to her beloved dog.

“It’s devastating,” Blue said. “We keep thinking of the various scenarios, and it’s starting to feel like something we may never know.”

[Sheridan]

Go forth and read the comments about how an animal rights group would never kill an animal ...

[Trisven13]

I'm very surprised that she "declined a necropsy because she was very confident he swallowed poison". Surely if you were that confident you'd want proof??? That doesn't make sense to me.

[espinay2]

Yes, not doing a necropsy just doesnt make sense.

[Trisven13]

It doesn't make sense and it is also makes her look like a nutter to claim that the dog was poisoned when she hasn't even obtained proof that it was poison. To then try to say that activists were responsible only adds to it.

[megan_]

It doesn't make sense and it is also makes her look like a nutter to claim that the dog was poisoned when she hasn't even obtained proof that it was poison. To then try to say that activists were responsible only adds to it.

I agree. Especially since they didn't order a necropsy.

[Ruin Maniac]

Yeah, without a necropsy the poisoning allegations don't have much of a leg to stand on. It honestly makes me wonder if the handler had something to hide, more than PETA. But what a horrible thing to have happen

[tdierikx]

No necropsy - when one was on offer - tends to make an onlooker/reader somewhat suspicious. A necropsy would have shown up what caused the dog to die, and then the owners would be in a much better position to fling accusations if poisoning was indeed found.

T.

[WreckitWhippet]

Theyare all as crazy as each other

[Bjelkier]

Such a tragic event. Maybe animal rights nuts did it (I would be surprised), maybe a disgruntled exhibitor did it (lord knows it's happened in Samoyeds before) or maybe it was something else.

A necropsy would have cleared up some things but what's done is done. They're heart broken at the loss of their dog and I'm not surprised they're looking for answers.

All I can say is RIP Cruz, you really were an amazing dog and the Samoyed world is a little bit sadder without your lovely smile.

Edited March 2, 2013 by Bjelkier

[Are You Serious Jo]

A necropsy would be the first thing I'd be doing

[tdierikx]

The only reason one would refuse a necropsy in a case like this is if the results may come back as something other than what is being claimed...

No proof of claim, then claim is null and void.

T.

[Bjelkier]

I don't think that's true at all.

[tdierikx]

Why on earth would one refuse a necropsy that would show beyond any doubt that their dog was poisoned - especially when they are espousing that theory via the media?

T.

[Bjelkier]

One of my cats was baited and I didn't have a necropsy done, I believed my vet when he told me that was the cause of death.

Perhaps this is what happened?

I don't know. I'm not about to make sweeping statements about what happened.

Edited March 2, 2013 by Bjelkier

[Simply Grand]

I don't like the tone of that article, it reads to me like it's making fun of the whole thing

[Christina]

I also find it weird that the vet said it takes 3 to 5 days for symptoms to show after ingesting rat/mouse poison ? I thought it was either instant or within a few hours/same day

No autopsy makes no sense.

[persephone]

I also find it weird that the vet said it takes 3 to 5 days for symptoms to show after ingesting rat/mouse poison ? I thought it was either instant or within a few hours/same day<br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: verdana, tahoma, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(238, 242, 247);">No autopsy makes no sense.

It would be very unusual for a dog to haemorrhage just after the ingestion of some rodenticides ...AFAIK it takes a little while to affect the clotting of the blood - depending.

If dog had eaten some in kennels at home or somewhere the maximum effect would have been 'helped along' by the stress/exercise of being shown.... IMO.

No autopsy is very odd.......

[tdierikx]

One of my cats was baited and I didn't have a necropsy done, I believed my vet when he told me that was the cause of death.

Perhaps this is what happened?

I don't know. I'm not about to make sweeping statements about what happened.

But you didn't run to the media and make accusations about what happened and who you thought did it, did you?

T.

[raz]

Wow, Ingrid. Just wow!!! From their FB page

http://sphotos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/531141_10151459049429586_1017769361_n.jpg