Upper East Side dog lovers happily bid adieu to a French bookstore that is relocating downtown — less than a year after the shopkeeper’s canines attacked a handful of smaller dogs, including a toy poodle that died from the horrifying mauling.
While La Librairie des Enfants is moving from its now-closed East 92nd Street storefront to the West Village, hurt feelings and outward anger continue to linger between residents whose pets were attacked and shop owner Lynda Hudson.
Hudson’s German shepherds victimized at least four little dogs, and she and at least one of the pet owners remain in a legal battle that is expected to go to small claims court next month.
The quaint business shut its Upper Manhattan doors in February but its sister café on the same block is expected to stay put.
“I’m just happy that (Hudson is) gone,” said Akiba Tripp, whose dog, Baby, was killed in August.
“I don’t believe she’s learned her lesson,” she added. “She showed no remorse.”
The French language children’s bookstore became seeped in controversy after an August New York Times article revealed four dogs were attacked by some of Hudson’s German shepherds, including Syko, who charged toward Tripp’s dog on Aug. 4.
[Syko] had my dog literally within his mouth,” Tripp told the outlet, leading her to euthanize Baby, her “world” who suffered a broken spine.
Syko, a white German shepherd, and two of his siblings attacked a small collie mix on May 3.
Four days later, Hudson’s dogs mauled a pair of small pups, a Cavachon and a Maltipoo, that were walking by the store, the Times reported at the time.
All three dogs suffered injuries.
Laurie Davis, who owns the Cavachon named Chloe, told The Post she’s glad the bookstore won’t be back on the block but she also wants to see café ousted.
“I have to tell you all the Upper East Side dog moms and dads up here, they don’t want her here at all,” Davis said.
She said she hopes the dogs aren’t brought to the West Village spot when it opens.
Hudson insisted that last summer’s turmoil had nothing to do with the shop leaving the Upper East Side, telling The Post Thursday that her lease was up and she didn’t want to renew after her bottom line was substantially damaged by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There’s no business in that area anymore,” she said.
“It has nothing to do with my landlord, or the dogs, or anything,” she claimed, adding there is no confirmed opening date for the West Village spot as renovations are ongoing.
The store was originally going to open by late April, an online post from the store said.
Hudson, who lives in Westchester County, claimed her dogs wouldn’t be traveling with her to the new store and that she has kept them home since the last attack in August.
She also maintained that Tripp’s toy poodle didn’t need to be put down, an argument she made around the time La Librairie des Enfants was first under scrutiny.
“Syko did not kill anyone,” Hudson claimed. “She put that dog to sleep.”
Tripp has said a veterinarian told her the dog couldn’t be saved, which she reiterated Thursday.
“For her to continue to say that, how dare she,” Tripp said. “That goes to show what an evil person this woman is. The dog’s spine was broken, and the doctors said we cannot do surgery.”
Davis filed a lawsuit against Hudson last year with a court date expected within the next few weeks.
She wants to recover costs associated her dog’s medical bills from the attack and specialized dog sitting in the aftermath.
Because Davis underwent planned knee surgery three days after her dog was attacked, she had to rearrange who took care of Chloe.
The tiny pup needed further care that cost more than initially thought due to her injuries, her distraught owner noted.
Hudson said she refuses to pay the dog-sitting bill and told Davis at the time she was willing to watch Chloe.
“She’s greedy,” Hudson said of Davis, who called Hudson a “pathological liar.”
“This woman has given me such agita that I can’t even begin to say,” Davis said.
