A Buckeye woman claims her dog is now dead as a result of leaving it in the care of a dog boarding facility last week.
Meaghan Pilcher only has one dog alive now. Last Wednesday night, she says she took Zero, her almost two-year-old German Shepherd, and Keizer, a yellow Lab, to a boarding facility near Estrella Parkway and Elliott Road in Buckeye while she and her husband were out of town.
Saturday, she says the facility called her.
“They told me that the dogs were out and that one of them had just received an alert that one of them may have been hit by a car,” Pilcher said.
But she says also got another call about Zero within ten minutes from a woman who rescues dogs.
“What they suspected at the time was Zero was hit by a car, and [she] asked me to describe the collar because she had the collar from County, and his body was already gone because it had been over 24 hours,” Pilcher said.
Something isn’t adding up for Pilcher. She would’ve expected Zero’s caregivers to alert her right away.
“You trust these places to watch your dog or you family or whatever animal it may be while they’re gone,” Pilcher said. “When you get a call that they’re loose, it’s scary enough, but then you hear that one of them has been killed—it’s devastating. It’s horrible.”
Pilcher says the woman who rescues dogs reunited her with Keizer.
ABC15 reached out to the dog boarding facility. A woman who answered the phone was familiar with the incident but repeatedly said she had no comment and wants to move on. She asked to not be contacted again. Minutes later, she sent a text message asking ABC15 to look into a bite case with Maricopa County Animal Care and Control, but offered no other details.
Maricopa County Animal Care and Control confirmed that they are investigating a bite case involving Pilcher’s other dog, Keizer, the 10-year-old yellow lab.
According to the report, an urgent care center contacted MCACC about the bite, saying a victim was caring for Keizer at the dog boarding facility and leashing the dog when the caregiver was bit.
There are no details about what happened to Keizer after that, and there’s no mention of Zero.
Keizer is currently at home with Pilcher.
Pilcher says she has retained the help of a lawyer to seek justice for Zero.
