A Wantagh couple is demanding answers after their nearly 4-year-old German shepherd died while staying at a local boarding facility during their vacation.
Richard and Lisa Gouldsbury say they dropped off their dog, Jet, at The Pawdorf on July 10 before leaving town. Five days later, on July 15, they received a phone call informing them that Jet had died.
"You have all these ideas going through your head about what this poor dog could have gone through," Lisa Gouldsbury said.
The couple says the boarding facility did not provide an explanation for Jet's death, only informing them that she had passed away.
"Basically, we've been stonewalled by them with absolutely no explanation other than the fact that she had passed," Richard Gouldsbury said.
When the Gouldsburys received Jet's belongings, they say they were disturbed by the condition of her harness, which they described as badly damaged.
"It's in deplorable condition, and all I could think of was there is no way this was natural. Something had to have happened to her," Lisa Gouldsbury said.
The couple says Jet was cremated before they realized they might want to pursue an investigation or request a necropsy to determine the cause of death.
They also say the boarding facility has surveillance video from inside the property but has not allowed them to view the footage.
"It makes me angry and it rips my heart out because something was done wrong," Richard Gouldsbury said. "Something happened and we're not getting the truth."
Lisa Gouldsbury says she simply wants transparency from the facility.
"If something did happen, own up to it and try to make it right," she said.
News 12 reached out to the boarding facility multiple times seeking comment. As of publication, the company had not responded.
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