VISTA — A woman who ran a dog boarding and training business out of her home in Vista allegedly kept dozens of dogs in tiny kennels in her garage, deprived them of food and water for up to 20 hours at a time and left them bloody and severely injured, according to a lawsuit filed in Vista Superior Court.
The complaint alleges that Vista resident Lauren Russell “refused to use harnesses provided (by owners) and instead would apply her collars to yank the dogs by the neck, would kick and scream at dogs, use shock collars, slam doors on them, and engage in other extremely abusive behavior,” according to a declaration by former employee Lexi Siwecki, who left after a month working for Russell.
Lucky Pups Dog Rescue and four dog owners who had previously used Russell’s home setup for boarding — Jenna Allers, Sherry Bowman, Patricia Crowson and Sami Jo McClish — brought a civil case forward in September in hopes of shutting down Russell’s business.
Christine Haslet, co-founder of Lucky Pups, started sharing complaints from former customers on social media in August, and complaints came to the County of San Diego Department of Animal Services as early as February.
A judge granted a temporary restraining order in mid-September, ordering Russell not to keep any dogs that are not her own in her care until the court can hear the matter and make a more permanent decision.
The next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 13 at 10:30 a.m.
Based on past behavior, the plaintiffs have said they worried that Russell will continue to operate her fraudulent dog boarding business.
According to the plaintiffs’ complaint, Russell routinely misrepresented her business, which she ran out of her home in Vista. She doesn’t have a business or kennel license and has forged a diploma and college transcript from the University of Hawaii, falsely claiming that she has a degree in animal science, the complaint said.
Russell also allegedly used at least eight business names and produced fake Google and Yelp reviews to drown out negative reviews from customers like Allers, Bowman, Crowson and McClish.
Allers’ dog, Forrest, stayed with Russell for five days and returned wet, shaking and visibly scared, Allers said. He had six foxtails and 38 burs in his fur, a rash over his abdomen, blood in one of his ears and a limp.
Bowman’s dog, Avicci, stayed with Russell for about a month. Bowman had prepared specialty food for each day of Avicci’s boarding, but a former employee told Bowman it was all thrown into the crowded garage for all dogs to consume immediately.
Russell allegedly fed all of the dogs generic food, did not give them their medications, and dumped out half of the pills upon pickup to make it seem like she had.
Crowson’s dog, Lilly, stayed with Russell for about a month.
“Lilly came back from Russell with every vertebrae in her back and her hip bones visible, which is nothing like the condition in which she had been dropped off,” according to the lawsuit. “She also had open sores on her which she never previously had and was absolutely filthy. Crowson had to give Lilly three baths to wash off the filth.”
The plaintiffs’ experiences do not match the “like family” experience Russell advertised. Russell told the plaintiffs their dogs would be one of two to three she keeps in the home, get two to five training sessions per day, and leave following guaranteed commands like “stay” and “heel.”
Russell has since relocated to Nashville, but Haslet said she continues to try to operate a boarding business there.
Since the temporary restraining order was issued, Haslet said several five-star reviews of Lauren the Dog Trainer, one of the names Russell used for her business, were posted from accounts with no other business reviews.
Haslet said she has seen Russell join Facebook groups and create an account on Rover.com in her mother’s name.
Russell could not be reached to comment.
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