Chesterfield dog trainer found guilty of causing death of pet

A dog trainer from Chesterfield has been found guilty of causing the death of a Tamaskan wolfdog who died from a ruptured liver.

Daniel Fullwood, 29, of Breck Lane, had denied inflicting blunt force trauma on 18-month-old Freya who was being boarded with him while her owners were on holiday.

Derby Crown Court heard that Freya’s owners needed help with lead walking and had taken her to the kennels he runs on 1 December 2023 for boarding and training while they went on holiday.

On 6 December, while still abroad, they received a call from the kennels informing them that Freya had become lethargic and had been taken to a local vet where staff had tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate her for 20 minutes before she passed away.

A postmortem carried out at the owners’ request showed Freya had suffered multiple lacerations to her liver which had been caused by blunt force trauma. No other injuries were identified and the report said it was considered they were the result of a single traumatic impact to the dog’s abdomen. The findings led her concerned owners to contact the RSPCA and an investigation was started by the animal welfare charity.

At his trial Fullwood, who had pleaded not guilty, said a kennel assistant was the first person to see Freya between 8am and 8.10am on 6 December. He then started the first training session with her between about 9.20am and 9.30am on the concrete yard with three other members of staff present.

To begin with Fullwood said she was “excitable” but after five minutes her demeanour changed and it very quickly became apparent that something wasn’t right. Freya laid down when asked to sit and when subsequently asked to walk she appeared to be very tired, the court heard.

At around 9:35am to 9.40am Fullwood said he took Freya back to her kennel where she laid down again. An emergency appointment was arranged with a vet but by 9:40am to 9.50am she had fully collapsed. He said he carried her to a car, arriving at the vets at 9.55am, but despite efforts to resuscitate her she could not be saved.

He told the court he couldn’t explain how Freya, who weighed 24kg (52.91 pounds), had sustained the injury to her liver, describing her as “ridiculously excited” while in her kennel and bouncing from wall to wall.

A member of kennel staff who also gave evidence said Freya was fine when they attended to her first thing that morning. They said they had then observed Fullwood training her, the pair were walking in large circles, and all appeared to be well. The staff member was then told Fullwood had needed to rush Freya to the vets and was later informed she had died.

A vet who reviewed the postmortem report and gave evidence at the trial for the RSPCA, said: “Freya was behaving excitedly at the beginning of her training session with Daniel Fullwood but after five minutes her demeanour changed and she began to appear very lethargic, began dragging her feet and wanted to lie down.

“These clinical signs would have all been associated with her falling blood pressure and the pain associated with the abdominal trauma. These signs indicate that Freya had sustained the injury to her liver at this time.

“Therefore, the liver injury had occurred at the beginning of the training session, after Freya had been removed from her kennel and before she began showing signs of lethargy five minutes later in response to her rapid blood loss and abdominal pain.

“In my opinion Freya would have suffered as a consequence of the blunt force trauma to her abdomen resulting in multiple lacerations of the liver.”

The court was told that CCTV covered the kennel blocks, grass, house, main gate and yard and the system stored the recordings for 30 days. Footage from 6 December had not been retained and Fullwood had not taken Freya in view of the camera on the yard.

A record of the exact kennel Freya had been kept in was not available, but RSPCA Inspector Pamela Bird, who investigated the case, said she was shown a block of kennels, one of which would have housed her.

In mitigation the court was told that what had happened to Freya was an “isolated incident” reflective of a loss of judgement which had already had a significant impact on Fullwood who had lost his job as a result.

Fullwood was convicted of one offence contrary to the Animal Welfare Act 2006 after a five-day trial at Derby Crown Court in February following an investigation and prosecution by the RSPCA.

At a sentencing hearing, Fullwood was given a 12-month community order, and was told he would have to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work. No disqualification order preventing him from keeping animals was imposed by the judge.  

Passing sentence, Judge Martin Hurst said significant force had been used, either in a commercial context or aggravated by professional responsibility, and there was no dispute it led to Freya’s death. It was also aggravated by the distress caused to her owners.

The judge said the incident was “completely out of character” and that disqualifying Fullwood from keeping dogs would be disproportionate to him and his family. He also concluded there was no relevant CCTV footage and the incident had not been observed by anybody else.

He said the defendant had homed a very large number of dogs, two in particular could only be exercised or taken to the vet if Fullwood was with them, and they faced being put to sleep if he was banned.