E413- A Celebrity’s Dog Died in Training… And There Are Still Questions

0:00 [SPEAKER_01]: This celebrity DJ's dog has died and nobody has answers. [SPEAKER_01]: guys I as a pro dog trainer as somebody who's had a dog training facility for over a decade and we do board and trains this guy sent his beloved Bernie's mountain dog to a Hollywood trainer celebrity dog trainer and the dog never made it home.

0:33 [SPEAKER_01]: The dog passed away in the trainer's care. [SPEAKER_01]: And this story is evolving and getting crazy. [SPEAKER_01]: Let's listen to what the owner has to say first. [SPEAKER_00]: As a tragedy with a negligent dog trainer for a dog dunking has developed into something way worse today, Maddie and I've spoken to seven different families who under the care of Jeff Todd and smart dogs training have had their dog pass away under mysterious circumstances.

0:59 [SPEAKER_01]: Seven different dogs, the trainer's name is Jeff Todd and I think the training company's smart dog training. [SPEAKER_01]: And so, [SPEAKER_01]: this is first of all let me just break this down okay i don't care who you are don't care if you're celebrity or you're a homeless person it doesn't matter if you pay somebody money to take care of your animal really anything your car your animal your dog [SPEAKER_01]: If God forbid something were to happen, you would, I mean, any normal person would be over explaining what had happened and taking accountability.

1:41 [SPEAKER_01]: doing everything possible to ease the torturous pain that these dog owners are going through. [SPEAKER_01]: And now that there are seven other people that we know of, and this is continuing to develop as we're doing this live, I'm watching some of the other stories that we're posting, apparently there's a compliment says which we're going to talk about in a little bit.

2:01 [SPEAKER_01]: but this is absolutely insane. [SPEAKER_01]: I, again, let's, for an example, we had a great day in that stayed with us for a two week board in training. [SPEAKER_01]: He was super lethargic. [SPEAKER_01]: We called the owners. [SPEAKER_01]: We said, hey, your dog isn't doing well. [SPEAKER_01]: He's not eating.

2:16 [SPEAKER_01]: He's being kind of odd. [SPEAKER_01]: We get those things happen every couple years where something just is off with the dog. [SPEAKER_01]: We [SPEAKER_01]: We sent the dog home, they picked them up, and they called us a couple of days later, and said, unfortunately, that I could pass away from a heart disease thing, and he was just slowly passing away.

2:32 [SPEAKER_01]: And listen, these things do happen. [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, when you are taking care of animals, and you're taking care of a lot of different animals. [SPEAKER_01]: Unfortunately, things do happen. [SPEAKER_01]: Thank God, nothing like that has ever happened in my facility. [SPEAKER_01]: But the reason why I'm telling you this [SPEAKER_01]: out of complete and utter just bad timing of the dog having some sort of cardiac arrest or recently we had a poodle started bloating and I was there.

3:06 [SPEAKER_01]: I literally felt the dog and I said bring this dog to the emergency room and the owner is actually said no don't. [SPEAKER_01]: He's just weird like that. [SPEAKER_01]: I said no, this dog is bloating. [SPEAKER_01]: He's going to die. [SPEAKER_01]: Luckily they got the dog in the dog went through emergency surgery and the dog was okay and the owners are like, holy shit, thank you so much.

3:23 [SPEAKER_01]: My point is, is if this were to unfortunately happen to any professional out there, there should be no negligence in reporting this to the owners and explaining what had happened, but the problem with this story is that the dog trainer is not giving the owners any information. [SPEAKER_01]: They're basically just like, hey, your dog passed away.

3:47 [SPEAKER_01]: And from my research, apparently this guy has done this several times before and from my experience looking this up in my research, he cremates the dogs before the owners can get to the dog, which is insane that this is happening. [SPEAKER_01]: So let's continue to watch this video and see what else the owner has to say.

4:09 [SPEAKER_00]: Was your explanation at hand? [SPEAKER_00]: It is now something a lot more serious than just simple negligence. [SPEAKER_00]: If you have ever, or know someone who's ever worked with Jeff Todd and smart dog training in Los Angeles, please reach out to us. [SPEAKER_00]: We're here to talk.

4:25 [SPEAKER_00]: And we want to help get this resolved and get justice for our dogs. [SPEAKER_01]: Again, this is what I do not understand. [SPEAKER_01]: Again, zero explanation. [SPEAKER_01]: How is there zero explanation for a dog that you are responsible for? [SPEAKER_01]: that had passed away and there's zero explanation like we're not even talking about a good dog trainer versus a bad dog trainer.

4:51 [SPEAKER_01]: We're talking about a criminal versus not a criminal. [SPEAKER_01]: When your dog is [SPEAKER_01]: when your dog passes away in someone else's care that it's not even like it's a it's a neighbor or it's you know your little nanny down the road and the dog you know had a cardiac event or the dog was older or the dog had a seizure or whatever choked God forbid no this was a young healthy Bernie's mountain dog that was loved by his owners [SPEAKER_01]: And the trainer just said and I and I and I'm gonna be honest and and I've said I don't know the full context I'm only getting one side of the story.

5:26 [SPEAKER_01]: So if the trainer wants to reach out to me, they he certainly can't Jeff to get his side of the story but from my understanding he's been silent and that to me is very telling like if Okay, if I if this were to happen to me like God forbid [SPEAKER_01]: a dog were to have a cardiac event.

5:52 [SPEAKER_01]: I would call them, and it would be a tough call. [SPEAKER_01]: And I would say, hey, unfortunately this happened, here's the circumstances, here's the video footage, whatever, right? [SPEAKER_01]: But this is from my understanding, this is a dog that is pronounced dead under unknown circumstances.

6:13 [SPEAKER_01]: So the owners aren't even telling, the owners of the dog aren't being told [SPEAKER_01]: What happened to their dog? [SPEAKER_01]: Which is crazy. [SPEAKER_01]: Like I'm making this podcast in this video because I'm trying to find answers. [SPEAKER_01]: And unfortunately in the dog training space, there is a lot of unregulated stuff.

6:34 [SPEAKER_01]: Stuff is not the right word. [SPEAKER_01]: There's a lot of unregulation, dysregulation, even. [SPEAKER_01]: And I think that that's like for a lot of different services out there, like if you're a card detailer [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe your hair salon cutter or whatever, sorry, forgive me, but whatever there's so many different services out there that people probably are unregulated, right?

6:59 [SPEAKER_01]: And there's been a conversation a lot in the dog training space about, we need more regulation. [SPEAKER_01]: And I would agree, we do need more regulation. [SPEAKER_01]: I think every doggy daycare, doggy training should have at least surveillance cameras if something like this were to happen.

7:15 [SPEAKER_01]: every good decent human being, would, you know, tell the, tell the owner like, hey, this is what happened. [SPEAKER_01]: Here's all, anything that we can do to help, please let us know. [SPEAKER_01]: And again, things happen, like I understand, like when you're dealing with dogs, like things, mistakes do happen.

7:31 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to sit here and get on a pedestal as a professional dog trainer and say, [SPEAKER_01]: that mistakes never happen with dogs. [SPEAKER_01]: Dogs don't get injured. [SPEAKER_01]: Dogs don't get sick. [SPEAKER_01]: Like these things happen. [SPEAKER_01]: It's part of being in the dog space.

7:44 [SPEAKER_01]: These are animals. [SPEAKER_01]: And unfortunately, dogs can pass away, you know, rather it's disease or old age or whatever. [SPEAKER_01]: This is this is this is different. [SPEAKER_01]: This isn't something that was an accident. [SPEAKER_01]: This wasn't something that was an unfortunate thing that randomly happened.

8:05 [SPEAKER_01]: This is nobody knows, right? [SPEAKER_01]: Was the dog left into a crate when it was too hot? [SPEAKER_01]: Was the dog not given food or water? [SPEAKER_01]: And in [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, and now there's other evidence coming out that there's apparently a second person. [SPEAKER_01]: So let's listen to the latest clip that Andrew has posted.

8:27 [SPEAKER_00]: I believe that Los Angeles dog trainer Jeff Todd is responsible for the death of my dog Duncan among many other dogs over the course of his 15 year business in the Los Angeles area. [SPEAKER_00]: He's not the only one responsible. [SPEAKER_00]: He has an accomplice. [SPEAKER_00]: His name is Jalen Hicks.

8:40 [SPEAKER_00]: He's in his early 20s, he lives in Van Nies, and he just graduated from California State University in Northridge. [SPEAKER_00]: According to Jeff, he is the one that was with my dogs at the time of Duncan's passing. [SPEAKER_00]: He knows way more information than has ever been communicated.

8:55 [SPEAKER_00]: No one can get a hold of him. [SPEAKER_00]: He refuses to come forward, and he would have insight that would be able to provide justice for all of these dogs that had been harmed under Jeff Todd. [SPEAKER_00]: We need Jalen to come forward immediately and stop hiding. [SPEAKER_01]: So there's another man that was involved into this allegedly, Jalen Hicks.

9:16 [SPEAKER_01]: And again, Jalen or Jeff, any of people that are involved into this case, I'm certainly not trying to make a witch hunt for this. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm just a dog lover who also happens to be a professional who also has a podcast that [SPEAKER_01]: tries to figure out what's going on in the dog world.

9:37 [SPEAKER_01]: And so if either Jalen or the trainer has Jeff Todd has any information and would like to talk on their side of this story, please let me know. [SPEAKER_01]: But from from what I'm seeing from this dog trainer or this dog owner's perspective is absolute negligence like the dog [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, here's, again, I can't reiterate this enough.

10:02 [SPEAKER_01]: I have a dog, I give it to somebody. [SPEAKER_01]: All of a sudden they call this a hit your dog's dead. [SPEAKER_01]: How? [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know. [SPEAKER_01]: What do you mean you don't know? [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I just don't understand, like some, and the thing that is really, I've been looking up on different platforms, the thing that is driving people crazy is that apparently there's been really, really, really bad reviews of this trainer on Google, Google pages and Facebook pages, and apparently they've been taken off and removed by whom?

10:32 [SPEAKER_01]: So I don't know. [SPEAKER_01]: But that's another, [SPEAKER_01]: really awful thing. [SPEAKER_01]: That's the point of having Google reviews. [SPEAKER_01]: I can promise you that if one of those one star reviews from the seven dog owners that we know of, who's dogs passed away in this trainer's care, [SPEAKER_01]: we're still there.

10:52 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure Andrew and his, I think his girlfriend, her wife, I'm not sure it's partner would say no. [SPEAKER_01]: That's one star too many of that happening. [SPEAKER_01]: And so obviously there's seven different dog owners who are now without a dog because of this whole situation. [SPEAKER_01]: And none of the reviews are still there and I'm sure the other dog owners are just as, [SPEAKER_01]: torn and gutted as Andrew and his partner and his family about this dog's passing, that I'm sure that they have left all sorts of negative reviews everywhere they possibly can and somehow they're removed.

11:31 [SPEAKER_01]: which should be illegal. [SPEAKER_01]: Now again, to be objective and to be fair in the dog training space, there is unfortunately a great deal of disgusting polarizing politics, and we've had our fair share of unfair one-star reviews from people who don't like the shirt I wear, and we get those removed because Google says yes, this is an unfair review of somebody's service on their shirt or their hat or how they, whatever.

11:57 [SPEAKER_01]: so that's not what we're talking about. [SPEAKER_01]: We're talking about a dog that had passed away in a dog trainer's care without an explanation. [SPEAKER_01]: And evidently, there's seven other dog owners that we know of that have gone through this. [SPEAKER_01]: And now we have an accomplice who is supposedly responsible or was responsible of the dog during the time of death, [SPEAKER_01]: how do you shut down communications with a dog owner who is ripped apart from their beloved dog being, I just don't understand it, right?

12:35 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm really trying to wrap my head about what, it's so suspicious. [SPEAKER_01]: And so, [SPEAKER_01]: gross that there has to be more to the story. [SPEAKER_01]: There has to be another side that I'm not seeing because no human being I would hope and pray in a soon would be anywhere in the dog training space as a celebrity.

12:59 [SPEAKER_01]: I say celebrity dog trainer because Andrew said he's a celebrity dog. [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what makes this person a celebrity dog trainer. [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know he could have worked with every celebrity in Hollywood. [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know. [SPEAKER_01]: It's not I don't care.

13:10 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm just trying to figure out as a dog enthusiast what the heck is going on and how people can get away with something like this and how other dog owners can see this as Maybe some some sort of a testament to maybe you there has to be some more Regulation or we need to do more research, but how does somebody like Andrew and his part of who obviously love [SPEAKER_01]: their dog.

13:38 [SPEAKER_01]: How does somebody who is responsible for seven other dog deaths still get business still have the ability to accept money from other people after these horrendous things allegedly have been happening? [SPEAKER_01]: I don't understand. [SPEAKER_01]: I would love answers. [SPEAKER_01]: I'd love to dig into this deeper because people need answers and dog owners need to know how to [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm kind of a different, I have a different perspective because I'm both sides of the spectrum.

14:11 [SPEAKER_01]: A dog lover who would do anything for my dogs and do everything I can for other people's dogs, which is why I've created my no-bed dog's brand. [SPEAKER_01]: But I also own a dog training facility in a board and train facility. [SPEAKER_01]: And so I have immediate and direct understanding of how these things work and how they could work.

14:30 [SPEAKER_01]: And if you guys, we have such granular details in our onboarding training onboarding process. [SPEAKER_01]: We weigh the dogs, and if a dog drops a pound because they're working more eating less because they're a little stressed there away from their owner. [SPEAKER_01]: We let the owners know that, hey, just so you know your dog lost a pound, we don't want you to freak out, you know, we always tell people, or whatever, whatever it is, half a pound, whatever you guys get the idea.

14:56 [SPEAKER_01]: we let him know like this dog that came to us who is an intact male his testicle started developing a little bit of it was just a little like shafeen from being on her kennel floor and so we like hey your dog's testicles are a little red from being on a floor that he's not used to [SPEAKER_01]: We, so in that's just us, I'm sure there's other people out there, dog trainers and board and train facilities that can attest to all the stuff that we do to make sure dog owners are comfortable with the scenario and comfortable with things that have happened.

15:32 [SPEAKER_01]: and we've also had a bunch of really erratic and unfair people coming to our business and do business with us and go absolutely off the deep end on things. [SPEAKER_01]: And so we've seen over reactions. [SPEAKER_01]: We've seen unfair reactions. [SPEAKER_01]: We've seen [SPEAKER_01]: total meltdowns from people who are just disregulated and out of their mind.

15:55 [SPEAKER_01]: Unfortunately, that's just part of owning a business. [SPEAKER_01]: Like these things do happen. [SPEAKER_01]: We call those annual red flags. [SPEAKER_01]: We have about two or three a year that no matter what you do and how good of a job you do, this person is going to be unhappy. [SPEAKER_01]: And that's just like any other business.

16:11 [SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't matter if you're a mechanic, you own a Michelin star restaurant, you're a flight attendant. [SPEAKER_01]: Somebody is going to be unhappy if you are offering services to the public. [SPEAKER_01]: This is far beyond unhappy. [SPEAKER_01]: This is far beyond disgruntled people who are just unhappy people.

16:30 [SPEAKER_01]: This is far beyond people who want their money back because they don't have money. [SPEAKER_01]: And this is just a scam that they do, which we've seen before. [SPEAKER_01]: This is far beyond that. [SPEAKER_01]: This is human being given another human being that they trusted. [SPEAKER_01]: their beloved dog that they love and they've shared memories with and birthdays with and Christmas is with.

16:52 [SPEAKER_01]: And that person is responsible of this dog's death. [SPEAKER_01]: Right there, awful, but then even furthermore, there's no explanation, there's no communication, there's no justice for what it happened. [SPEAKER_01]: I would assume if this word had happened and the, and the [SPEAKER_01]: open about it.

17:16 [SPEAKER_01]: The all of this would be going different, but the fact that there's just nothing. [SPEAKER_01]: is not everything about it is stinks and I bet we're going to continue to discover things. [SPEAKER_01]: If you guys are listening to this anywhere, shout out, give me, give me comments, give me information.

17:36 [SPEAKER_01]: I want to know more about this, not because I'm trying to shut this guy down, because of any reason. [SPEAKER_01]: This is me as a dog owner and a carrier of dogs. [SPEAKER_01]: I have some [SPEAKER_01]: to make sure people know about things like this. [SPEAKER_01]: So this does not happen again.

17:55 [SPEAKER_01]: I did this one time ever in my life to a local facility. [SPEAKER_01]: here in my area, and I posted on my personal page, my Facebook, this is Facebook mind you. [SPEAKER_01]: I have a Facebook account for my business that has like 600,000 followers or whatever the hack is on there. [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't post it there.

18:18 [SPEAKER_01]: I posted on my personal business page to my local community in which I am a part of. [SPEAKER_01]: And I said, [SPEAKER_01]: beware of this place dogs are dying here and this person called me and attacked me and said that i'm being a bully because of my platform and i'm doing you know what maybe i'm a bully but i will never bully somebody for their opinion i would never bully somebody for how they want to do stuff but i will definitely come out of the woodwork and try to figure out [SPEAKER_01]: how a poor dog is now deceased and in a family is without a dog because of the neglect, negligence, gross negligence of another human being that it's supposed to be a professional dog trainer, just like me.

19:04 [SPEAKER_01]: Let me know if you guys have any information on this. [SPEAKER_01]: If the owners of the dog want to reach out to give us one information here on the NoBad Dogs podcast, please let me know, message me anywhere that you can find me on Instagram. [SPEAKER_01]: And if anybody is also been dealing with this trainer, or if the trainer, Jeff Todd, or Jalen Hakes wants to communicate and give their side of this story, please let me know.

19:26 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm only going off of the information I have. [SPEAKER_01]: And I think everyone needs to know more about what is going on. [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you guys for listening and we'll make this a series if we get more information from anybody.