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East Bay Kennel Tight-Lipped After Woman's Dog Mauled By Pitbull

CONCORD (KPIX 5) -- A Bay Area woman is demanding answers after she claims her dog was seriously injured while staying at an East Bay kennel, and no one will tell her what really happened.

"I am just shocked and devastated by what has happened to our poor Shadow," said Elizabeth Iannaconne.

Her four-year-old lab mix was under a blanket in a corner of their Concord home.

"He's just been laying there and when he gets in pain he just starts shaking and he starts growling," said Iannaconne.

His head, face and legs are covered with at least 18 puncture wounds. In pictures Iannaconne posted to Facebook, you can see drainage tubes dotting his head.

Iannaconne says he was mauled by a pitbull Friday afternoon while spending the weekend at North Gate Kennels in Walnut Creek.

"We always said that we wanted our dogs to be kenneled alone," said Iannaconne. "I would've never allowed for him to be kenneled with a strange dog. Never."

But it appears that's exactly what happened. Documentation from the vet's office says the kennel employee who brought Shadow in said he was "kenneled together" with the dog that bit him.

But that's all Iannaconne knows. She says no one at North Gate will answer any of her questions.

"They have given me no answers, no explanation," she said. "I have had no contact from the owner.

A neighbor who lives near the kennel but did not want to be identified told KPIX 5 he got the story firsthand from the North Gate owner.

Two employees were, you know, I guess, handling the dogs," the neighbor said. "Something triggered the animals and they should've been more, I think, separated.

But when we went inside to talk to the owner, Bill Rogers, he told us what Iannaconne wrote on Facebook was, quote, "B.S."

Rogers said his kennel cares for the animals and refused to comment further.

"Everything I put in there is fact, is the truth," said Iannaconne. "My dog is there and you can see him. He was clearly mauled and attacked. And if they had cared for him that never would've happened."

Iannaconne said she hasn't put in a claim with animal control about the dog attack because the kennel has refused to share any information about the pitbull.

Iannaconne also said she hasn't yet decided what legal steps she might take against North Gate Kennels.

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