Video shows dog jabbed with stick at training facility
HEMPSTEAD, NY -- The SPCA is investigating to see if video showing a trainer's interaction with a dog on Long Island is considered abuse.
The video allegedly shows the owner of a dog training facility in Oceanside prodding and jabbing a pit bull that is locked inside a cage.
Watch the video here (WARNING: Video may be disturbing to some people):
Eyewitness News has learned the man in the video is Brian DeMartino. He owns NY Dog Works.
DiMartino appeared in court Monday in Hempstead on unrelated domestic violence charges. His girlfriend told police DeMartino assaulted her and punched her in the face.
Several people who had sent their dogs to NY Dog Works said their dogs came back to them with cuts and bruises.
Thomas Marrone said paid $1,800 to send his puppy, Zeus, to DeMartino's facility in June. When he picked Zeus up two weeks later, the dog was missing some teeth.
"He seemed OK. He was just docile, timid, scared. It wasn't until later that I learned why he was missing those teeth," Marrone said. "A witness informed me that, basically, my dog was beaten terribly while he was there, along with every other dog that's there. I didn't witness it myself. My dog didn't appear to have injuries other than the teeth."
Marrone said he wants to see DeMartino held accountable.
Another dog owner we talked with said her dog shadow was also injured after going to the facility.
"He told me he was bit by another dog. Do you believe that? I don't believe that. no," Tammy Lynch of Woodury said.
No charges have been filed in connection with the video.
DeMartino refused to speak with Eyewitness News at his house Monday and ignored our calls.
But he had to talk to those with the town of Hempstead buildings department. They issued DeMartino a summons Monday for operating a business without a permit.
