"She did hit them a lot": Viral video shows apparent abuse of dog at groomer

FOND DU LAC (CBS 58) - A Fond du Lac dog grooming business is under investigation after video surfaces of an employee abusing a dog.

Tails a Waggin’ Dog Grooming and Salon is closed after the two videos went viral.

They appear to show groomer Chris Lapine yelling at and hitting a dog.

The dogs can be heard whimpering in the background.

The woman in the video says “No biting!” and “You don’t like it? Too bad.”

Former employee Desirae Pett says this type of behavior happened a lot.

“She did hit them a lot,” said Pett, “she would just wail on them, hit them, punch them, whatever.”

“There is one thing that she said when I first started and that is, what the client doesn’t know won’t hurt them,” added Pett.

The shop was closed when we went there Wednesday, but three large signs reading “We Beat Dogs” were put in the front yard of the business.

While we were there, a man who identified himself as Lapine’s husband said this all started from a disgruntled employee who was out to destroy Lapine.

“I was shocked,” said Breck Rooney.

He has been taking his dog to Tail a Waggin’ for 5 years, but says he’s already searching for a new place and won’t be back.

“Obviously what we all saw was breathtaking,” said Scott Johnson, owner of Affordable Family Pet Grooming in Fond du Lac.

He is a colleague of Lapine, and calls the video out of character for her.

But he says what happened is unacceptable.

“Obviously she shouldn’t have done what she did, period,” said Johnson, ”it’s no different than seeing someone hurting one of our kids, it’s just shocking.”

He has decades of experience working with good dogs and bad, and says there are better ways to handle a problem pooch.

“When one of us are getting push, we just switch, say Angel or Casey or Jasmine,” Johnson said referring to his employees, “please come over here I’m having a hard time, and that way it takes the pressure down.”

We did reach out to Lapine but did not hear back.  Her husband didn’t want to talk on camera, but says he’s already called a lawyer.

As for the video, the Fond du Lac Police Department says they are investigating.