A Pensacola dog trainer is accused of leaving a client’s American bulldog inside a hot car this summer for more than an hour while she worked with another dog, leading the bulldog to die from heat stroke.
Sophie Haniford, 19, was arrested Wednesday and charged with animal cruelty. She was booked into the Escambia County Jail with a $2,500 bond.
County records indicate she was released from custody the same day.
Haniford could not been reached for comment Wednesday. The company she worked for at the time of the incident, Off Leash K9 Training, did not respond to the News Journal’s request for comment.
According to Haniford’s arrest report, a man and a woman from Virginia were visiting Orange Beach, Alabama, in July when they signed up their dogs for training at Off Leash K9 Training at 51 E. Gregory St. in Pensacola.
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They left two dogs, including a gray and white American bulldog named Ruthie, with Haniford on July 2 before returning to Virginia.
On July 8, they received a call from Haniford informing them that Ruthie had died, leading them to call the Pensacola Police Department to report the incident.
They told police that Haniford said she left Ruthie inside her car while she was working with another dog and that when Haniford returned after an hour to check on Ruthie, the dog had died, according to the arrest report.
“Haniford said she had left the car running with the windows up. Haniford said she left Ruthie in the car for over an hour,” the report stated. “When Haniford returned, she found that the vehicle had shut off and Ruthie was dead. Haniford told them that her car had a history of shutting off when she left it running.”
Haniford later denied to police that she said her vehicle had a history of shutting off.
After finding Ruthie dead in the car, Haniford rushed the dog to the nearest veterinarian, who determined the bulldog had died of heat stroke, the report stated.
During an interview with PPD investigators, Haniford explained the events that led up to Ruthie’s death. She said that on July 8, she took Ruthie with her to Off Leash K9 Training to conduct a 10 a.m. private training with another dog. While working with the other dog, she left Ruthie in her car with the car running.
After the private lesson, Haniford took Ruthie out of her car and worked with the bulldog for about an hour of obedience training.
Haniford then left Ruthie in the running car again when she conducted another private lesson with a different dog from noon to 1 p.m.
After finishing the lesson and cleaning up the training space, Haniford went to check on Ruthie and found the car had shut off and that Ruthie was unresponsive, the report stated.
Haniford told investigators she had been using a device to monitor the heat inside the vehicle when Ruthie was in the car. However, Haniford said, she did not read the device’s directions until after the dog died, at which point she learned that the device did not work through walls.
“The fact that Haniford purchased and used the device indicates that Haniford reasonably believed it was a dangerous practice to leave a dog unattended in a vehicle,” the report stated. “Through her own admitted negligence, Haniford did not read the instructions on the device and misused it leading to Ruthie suffering a painful and cruel death.”
Colin Warren-Hicks can be reached at colinwarrenhicks@pnj.com or 850-435-8680.