A dog boarding at District Dogs in Navy Yard died Friday after being “physically struck” by an employee, according to a statement from the company Tuesday. The employee has been fired.
The Humane Rescue Alliance said Wednesday they are investigating the case, and officials with District Dogs said they would cooperate with authorities.
“The District Dogs family is heartbroken over this incident and extends its sincere condolences to the family of the dog, and we grieve their loss at this profoundly difficult time,” officials at District Dogs said in a statement to The Washington Post on Wednesday.
The incident comes after 10 dogs died in August during a flood at a different District Dogs facility on Rhode Island Avenue in Northeast Washington.
People trapped inside the flooding facility waited 23 minutes for first responders to arrive after officials initially received reports of the flood, The Post previously reported. Water pooled six feet above ground that day. A manager watching the store through a webcam told a 911 operator, “the whole building is going underwater” as the walls gave way, according to call transcripts. But a dispatcher told firefighters that the business had a water leak, leading to the delayed response.
Once first responders arrived, they rescued 20 dogs, and all seven people inside made it out, authorities said.
Some pet owners have blamed Jacob Hensley, District Dogs’ owner, in the aftermath of the flood for not having a better escape plan for the animals, especially given the business’s flood-prone location and a forecast for rain that day. In 2022, the facility similarly found itself underwater during a storm. Hensley has said city officials — who knew the area to be flood-prone — had assured him that improvements to his business made it safe.
Hensley did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment.
“It seems unreasonable that there had not been a greater precaution taken,” Kerry Garro, whose dog died in the flood, said at the time. “I don’t blame the employees. I blame whatever protocol they had in place.”
Hensley has since closed District Dogs’ Rhode Island Avenue location. The company now has six facilities and a seventh opening up in Northwest Washington, according to its website.
