A Glens Falls Dog Daycare Lost Her Pet, Now She’s Shut Them Down
"I've got bad news. Your dog is missing."
It's probably one of the last things you would ever want or expect to hear from a professional boarder, but it happened to a Pennsylvania woman who visited Glens Falls in June. That experience led to something else out of the ordinary - protests on Saturday and Sunday outside that dog daycare.
Sandra Miranda was visiting the Capital Region from Pittsburgh and left Alfie, her Australian Shepherd, at GFK9. When she returned later that day, a staff member informed her that her dog was gone - they had no clue where he was. Thankfully, Alfie was found safe after more than two weeks in a Glens Falls backyard.
In a Glens Falls Post-Star interview, owner Mike Tartaglione said he was reviewing the security cam footage trying to see when Alfie got loose and the footage skipped during that time period. The kennel had also removed Alfie's collar and tags. GFK9 put up a missing dog post on their Facebook page on the 22nd, when the dog was lost.
Sandra Miranda made a post of her own, which ended up getting thousands of shares from the Glens Falls & Queensbury Area Lost & Found Pets Facebook Page. Then other started sharing and re-sharing their poor experiences with GFK9. Even though the daycare has a 3.4 star average on Google, there are many horror stories in the comments.
As referenced in one of the reviews, there has even been an incident where a 4 month old dog died after being placed in a kiddie pool and left unsupervised. Employees had complained and even quit around the nature of how pets were treated at the facility. Alfie's viral disappearance was the final straw at a place that had become synonymous to many with abuse and neglect.
On Saturday and Sunday, a crowd of people, some with their pets, protested outside with signs that the business close immediately. By Monday, they had their wish.
News10 reported that the daycare was listed as permanently closed as of July 14, but as of this writing on the 15th the Google listing posted normal hours.