It was an emotional meeting on Monday night, November 18, as customers of Mashpee’s Cape Cod Dog Center shared their concerns and complaints about the kennel and boarding facility with the select board.
“I am going to open this up. But I ask for everybody to be polite, please,” select board chairwoman Carol A. Sherman told the residents who filled the Waquoit Meeting Room. “I’m going to refer to our town manager on this, please.”
Clients of Cape Cod Dog Center fill Waquoit Meeting Room at the select board meeting on Monday to discuss ongoing issues at the boarding facility.
LAUREN SURBEY/ENTERPRISE
Ms. Sherman added that the discussion was not a public hearing, and was solely for listening purposes.
Owner Speaks On Dog’s Death
Residents from Mashpee and surrounding towns gathered in the room to share their experiences with Cape Cod Dog Center. The discussion came after a Newfoundland died in the facility on Labor Day weekend.
The owner of the Newfoundland, Cassie Lemire, started the discussion by telling the story of what happened to her dog Mo while she and her family were out of town.
“We were on vacation, and facilities such as Cape Cod Dog Center are to care for people’s pets when they go on vacation,” Ms. Lemire, clearly emotional, said to the select board.
Ms. Lemire said her family has relied on Cape Cod Dog Center to care for their pets in the past, despite questions and small concerns regarding the business.
“We were extremely clear that our dogs needed to be cared for properly, and the owner, Kailey Cullin, promised us that those needs would be fully met,” she said.
Ms. Lemire said she and her husband faced lies and manipulation from employees at the facility.
“On the 30th of August, I realized that the promises that Kailey Cullin made to me and other customers of Cape Cod Dog Center meant nothing to her,” Ms. Lemire said. “I was told by Ms. Cullin, after she viewed the footage of Mo the day that he died, that Mo died ‘peacefully’ in his sleep.” Ms. Lemire said, used air quotations around the word peacefully.
“I knew right away that there was something not right with this,” she said. “Mo had just been given a clean bill of health from our veterinarian, Dr. Leach…. We received a call from Dr. Leach saying that Mo clearly had passed away from bloat.”
Bloat, or gastric dilatation-volvulus, is an illness found in dogs when their stomach fills with gas, food or fluids and as a result, twists. Bloat develops without warning and can progress quickly.
“I reminded Kailey that we told her that if our dogs were to experience any signs of distress, anxiety, pain or discomfort, she was to call Dr. Leach immediately,” Ms. Lemire said. She added that she watched the video footage that captured her dog’s death.
“I noticed right away that Mo was showing signs of distress—he clearly was not himself and he was pacing and panting,” Ms. Lemire said.
She said she watched the video with Ms. Cullin. Ms. Lemire said that in the video the staff never cleaned the room of feces and urine. Staff members provided Mo with lots of food and water without cleaning the room, she said.
“Any reasonable person running a dog care facility for 10 years should know a dog should not drink a large amount of water right after they eat,” Ms. Lemire said. “Especially a large breed who can bloat.”
Ms. Lemire said that as she continued to watch the video footage of her dog, Mo was progressively overheating. He had an overabundance of gasses in his system, she alleged, and showed visible signs of discomfort, including the panting and pacing.
“Not only had we told Kailey that the dogs were not to be kenneled in a cage, but we told her that if any of our dogs’ needs could not be met at any time, we were to be called so we could pick them up,” Ms. Lemire said. “We received no call, no text. Nothing.”
Ms. Lemire said her goal for the night was to make clients aware of the many concerns she has with Cape Cod Dog Center.
“The death of Mo was caused by ignorance and lack of proper training and understaffed and overcrowded facility, and lack of proper supervision by Kailey Cullin,” Ms. Lemire said. “I learned, after talking with many former employees and clients at Cape Cod Dog Center, the many disturbing stories of abuse, neglect, overcrowding, poor training and so much more.”
Many clients and employees followed Ms. Lemire to the podium and spoke about their experiences with Cape Cod Dog Center, both positive and negative. The room was divided into residents who supported the facility and those who opposed it.
Customers who opposed the dog center said they had experienced issues in the past, such as multiple gastrointestinal illnesses, dogfights and undertrained employees.
Former employees who said they have earned degrees in animal care told the board that while they had good experiences working at Cape Cod Dog Center they also saw changes that could be made, including better transparency with customers and a properly trained staff.
Others Speak On Positives Of Dog Center
East Falmouth resident Jennifer Longval expressed gratitude to Ms. Cullin and the dog center.
“I’m actually here to support Cape Cod Dog Center,” Ms. Longval said. “I just wanted to briefly share my experience with the center.”
While Ms. Longval and her husband were traveling out of state, her dog Millie had a health emergency while at Cape Cod Dog Center, she said.
“We had given explicit instruction if anything happened, to give us a call,” Ms. Longval said.
She said she received a call from a staff member at the dog center expressing concerns about Millie. That staff member drove Millie to Leach Veterinarian Practice in Mashpee. At that time Millie needed a higher level of care than the practice could provide, so the staff member drove Millie to Bourne Animal Hospital, which did not have a surgeon on duty. Finally, the staff member drove Millie to VCA South Shore Animal Hospital in Weymouth.
“That staff member took Millie in her own car and transported her to VCA in Weymouth, and stayed with Millie until she was seen and admitted,” Ms. Longval said, “during which time she was in constant contact with my husband and I.”
Ms. Longval said the vet informed her that Millie had a large gastric tumor that could not be resected.
“Her death was not a result of any care or miscare from Cape Cod Dog Center,” Ms. Longval said. “I want to be very clear about that.”
“The next day we went to Cape Cod Dog Center. We were not charged for any services that they provided,” Ms. Longval said. “The staff sent us a bereavement card and a beautiful, stunning bouquet of flowers to offer their condolences.”
Ms. Longval said if her family ever does get another dog, she would entrust it to Cape Cod Dog Center.
Owner Defends Business
Ms. Cullin was one of the last to speak on the matter.
“I do feel like hearing from me is crucial at this point, and I know that everybody has a lot to say and have a lot of feelings,” Ms. Cullin said. “I do want to hear them and I understand where they’re coming from with a lot of them, to be honest. I work with animals. I’ve done this for 20 years. I’ve invested my entire career and my entire life into this.”
Ms. Cullen said she noticed a deficit in the animal care field when she moved to Cape Cod 10 years ago. Prior to this business, she ran a similar successful operation in Boston, she said.
She added that she takes full responsibility for the lapses in leadership.
“We’re all human,” Ms. Cullin said. “I’m sorry to the people who have been unfortunately let down.”
She and another customer, who spoke highly of the dog center, said that in all forms of business the bad experiences are often louder than the good ones.
“In regards to what happened with Mo, it’s an awful tragedy. Obviously as a team, we were all disappointed; we felt guilt, we felt misery,” Ms. Cullin said. “It’s something for me, in my career, that I’ve never experienced. I’ve never had a dog pass as an animal caregiver in 20 years. So that was a very difficult mountain to climb.”
She added that since the incident she has added more than 30 web cameras so clients can have access to their pets when they are away.
“We handle these things as we learn,” Ms. Cullin said. “I reacted the best I could with the most compassion available that I could offer. I offered them everything; money, my time to hear me, to cry with them, and ultimately, nothing was enough.”
Ms. Cullin said she has a training process that all employees go through when hired that is mandatory in the pet care field. Also offered when employees are hired is a pet CPR and first-aid certification.
“I’m sorry for any of the customers or employees that I didn’t provide the support or leadership that I needed to,” Ms. Cullin said. “But things have changed a lot.”
Ms. Cullin added that animal control visits her on a daily basis, and that she’s been in contact with the state regarding Governor Maura T. Healey’s new law, known as Ollie’s Law, to improve safety for pets staying in kennels.
“If there was anything wrong, I think everybody would know about it,” Ms. Cullin said. “There’s no secrets. There’s no dirty lies. There’s no manipulation. This is just the truth, the reality that we’re living in.”
Mashpee town manager Rodney C. Collins said he spoke with a health agent earlier on Monday, and that he has received two complaints about the kennel that are under review “by the command structure at the police department and MSPCA deputy director James Hamblin, and also the Cape and islands first assistant district attorney.”
Mr. Collins said that the second complaint is under investigation, so he cannot discuss it at this time.
“I understand that there is a lot of emotion relative to the subject matter. I’m certainly not one to be insensitive to any of the emotions that have been expressed,” Mr. Collins said. “But there’s no action for the board to take.”
Ms. Sherman also weighed in on the matter.
“We know it’s sad. And we’re sorry for your loss. We thank you for being here and expressing both sides of concern,” Ms. Sherman told everyone in the Waquoit Meeting Room. “It’s not in our purview to make a judgment. It’s up to the ones who have the licensing for you. We’re sorry that this had to happen. I’m sorry that we had to hear this. We hope that you can work this out. Our pets are our babies, no question.”
