Cowards in the weeds
Cowards are going after Floyd County Sheriff’s Department chief investigator Jeff Dalton on WDBJ TV’s web site because he is suing Pet Smart in Christiansburg for attempting to kill his pet Yorkie.
They are cowards because, like so many who revel in tossing brickbats from the safety of anonymity on the Internet, they question his character while not having the courage to reveal their identity so that we can accurately judge their character or their true intentions..
One calls him or herself "no fan of Dalton" while the other uses the screen name of "shopaholic." The should call themselves gutless 1 and gutless 2.
It’s easy to be bold when you hide behind a mask — whether it be the white sheet of a Klansman in Franklin County or the screen name of a message board.
Dalton took his dog to PetSmart to be groomed. The dog he got back was obviously drugged and injured. He took the animal to the vet where it had to be revived from injuries that almost killed the pet.
PetSmart agreed to pay the vet’s bill but refused to do anything more or even admit blame for injuring the dog. They wanted to keep the whole thing quiet. So Dalton went to Jonathan Rogers, the most aggressive, attack-dog lawyer in Floyd and they filed a lawsuit.
Good move. PetSmart should be held publicly accountable for its misdeeds. Any pet owner knows how attached one can get to a dog or cat or otherwise. I consider myself a reasonably tough guy but when we lost a kitten to a brain tumor two years ago I broke down and cried. I couldn’t stop the tears. A pet is a loved one, a member of the family, and they deserve to be treated as one and not manhandled by a "groomer" with minimal training at a chain pet store.
For the record, Jeff Dalton is a friend. My family has known his family for many, many years. We share a passion for motorcycles. I also admire a man who puts his life on the line for poverty-level pay and a too-often unappreciative public.
I don’t admire cowards who hide out behind the faceless anonymity of the Internet. They are not worthy of respect or consideration.
Jeff is doing the right thing by standing up for animals that cannot speak or protect themselves. I hope the responsible party is fired and can never work with animals again.
On the same note, we have to hope the board of supervisors will listen to the Floyd County Humane Society and allow them to go into the pound to take care of the dogs and to begin allowing them to save some of the counties cats. Currently, the Floyd County pound kills 100% of the cats that are dropped off there. 100%. That means if my cats should accidentally slip out of the house and a good samaritan picks them up and brings them to the pound…believing that that’s the right thing to do…my cats will be murdered. How messed up is that? Keep in mind that the Floyd County Humane Society received a grant for cat cages and even has them set up in the FC pound, but because the County supervisors won’t allow the HS people in to take care of the animals, those cages sit empty and cats are being needlessly killed.
The Board of Supervisors say they can’t let the volunteers in for liablity reasons, but that’s not valid because all humane society members are covered automatically. There is no logical reason for keeping the HS volunteers out of the pound! Who refuses free help? Especially given the circumstances surrounding the understaffing we presently have in the animal control office. The pound is only open for business 6 hours a week and none of those hours are available during times when working people can get to the pound to look for a pet.
Our pets need us to speak up for them…
Good luck to Jeff and Chester!
Well this blog entry was a learning experience for me. First the right to sue is as American as apple pie and if you hurt one of my dogs while performing a paid service I’m gonna sue. Good for you Mr. Dalton!!
Second 100% of cats are destroyed?? Thats just unreal. I knew there were problems with the animal shelter when I called to inquire about whether they had a chip reader and they said yes but at the time it was not working but the cat thing is scary. I’m not a big SPCA fan (I don’t like the way they place animals I feel they are too strict)but if they can offer the service Floyd county needs the county should take them up on it.
It is the Humane Society of Floyd County that is trying to help. The number of unwanted cats in this county is deplorable. Please, everyone get those cats fixed.The Humane Society peole will help you financially.Please donate to them and maybe take in foster kittens. We can all help in some way. This is not someone else’s problem,it’s our problem. And we can fix it.
Hi Jeff.
I dont know you very well however I know what you are going through. Don’t allow some cyber blogger to try and intimidate you just to see if they can get a reaction. We recently went through a similar situation. As animal lovers such as you we had to endure some people that were unsympathetic to the situation.
The thing that helped us get through this time was reading the book “Rescuing Sprite”: A Dog Lover’s Story of Joy and Anguish. The book was recently number one on the best sellers list. Authored by “Mark Levin” I think it would help.
You have our best wishes and Our prayers are with you and your family .
Wow. I had no idea that the pro-PetSmart advocates and lobbyists were so vocal and vicious.
I confess that this is the first I’ve heard about Dalton’s lawsuit, so I’m wondering: Why exactly are the anonymous cowards complaining about someone suing a company who injured his dog? Even people I’ve met who think of their pets as owned “things” would still sue, if for no other reason than they would view this as their property being damaged.