It was supposed to be a dream vacation for popular influencers Andrew Fedyk and Madeleine White.
White is a fashion creator with over 5.2 million followers on TikTok, where she shares videos about her life with Fedyk, one-half of the hit DJ duo Loud Luxury.
Their first child, Juliette, was born prematurely in June and spent three months in the neonatal intensive care unit — an experience the two describe as a “difficult challenge.” When they packed their bags in August, they were excited to take their newborn on her first trip. They planned to go from their home in Los Angeles to Portugal, where their daughter would meet her grandparents for the first time. The two decided to board their two Bernese Mountain dogs, Poutine and Dunkin, with Jeff Todd, the owner of Smart Dogs Training, to help them learn better leash manners and polite greetings while they were gone for a month. After going back and forth, they say, they agreed to pay $4,500 for each dog’s boarding and training.
But shortly after they landed in Portugal on August 26, as they were unpacking their bags, Fedyk and White received news they never could have imagined. Their two-year-old dog, Dunkin, was dead. While Fedyk and White were first told that Dunkin’s death was an unfortunate accident, the two believe their trainer operated with extreme negligence — a pattern of behavior they allege has harmed or killed multiple dogs in his care. (Todd has not responded to multiple requests for comments from Rolling Stone or other news outlets). Now, they’re using their large TikTok following to demand justice for Dunkin. L.A. Animal Services has already started an investigation into Todd and his business. But Fedyk and White say with Dunkin gone forever, they won’t be satisfied until there are also stronger reforms in California’s animal abuse laws.
“Justice looks like this man going to jail,” Fedyk says. “And making sure that this never happens to anyone else ever again.”
Fedyk and White say Todd told them that while on a routine training session in a park, which coincided with a historic heatwave in Southern California, Dunkin began showing signs of heat exhaustion. Dunkin and Poutine were then both transferred to another boarding facility, he allegedly told them, and Dunkin died while in transit. But Fedyk and White say not only did Todd and his assistant not contact them when Dunkin first became ill, the two never attempted to get their dog medical attention. When they finally received a call, Dunkin had been dead for hours. Even more alarming to them, the AirTags attached to both of their dogs collars were disabled that morning, the last location pinging to the park where Dunkin had been training.
“Both air tags just completely stopped pinging at between nine and 10 a.m. that morning,” White claims. “So instead of seeking vet care for our dog, they decided to disable our dog’s AirTags and remove the collars instead.”
Away from home, Fedyk and White sent their usual dogsitter to pick up their surviving dog, Poutine. She reported that Poutine was in a “terrible state,” according to Fedyk, and acted erratically the first few days she was home. “She wouldn’t eat. She wouldn’t drink water. They had to put towels on her to cool her down because she wouldn’t stop panting and whimpering,” Fedyk says. “Luckily, I think she’s recovered a bit now that she’s surrounded by someone who’s caring for her 24/7. But it’s obvious that Poutine encountered a trauma.”
While most federal laws regarding animal cruelty and abuse center around extreme examples of neglect, each state maintains its own statutes on restitution. Under California’s civil code, pets are considered personal property. You can sue someone in civil court for theft or grand larceny, but criminal prosecutions require malice and intent. When Fedyk and White reported Dunkin’s death, they say they were told it would be difficult to prove. “We had a friend physically go to the police station to file a police report, and we also called,” White says. “[They and their friends] were told, ‘It’s a hot day in Los Angeles. Lots of dogs died today. Can you prove malice? Can you prove that this dog was beaten? Can you prove that this dog was intentionally murdered? No? Then sorry, we can’t help you.’”
In Los Angeles, cases of alleged animal cruelty and abuse are handled through L.A. Animal Services. After Fedyk and White filed their report, representatives confirmed to Rolling Stone that there is an active investigation into Todd and his business but did not comment on whether there had been previous investigations into Todd or Smart Dogs Training. “L.A. Animal Services has received the complaint from the dog owner, and we are looking into the incident,” they said in a statement. “This is an open and active investigation, so no additional information is available at this time.”
But when they posted the news on TikTok, they were shocked to receive over a dozen messages from people who claimed to have had similar experiences with Smart Dogs Training. Some reported their dogs returned home emotional and distant, some emaciated. Three said that, like Dunkin, their dogs died and they found out hours later. (Rolling Stone viewed screenshots of all of the allegations, but was not able to independently verify them.) “We were really upset because initially when we had had the story from Jeff, it didn’t make sense to us, but we just thought the proper precautions hadn’t been taken,” White says. “We never thought that this was intentional or malicious until we started receiving all of the similar stories and so many people messaging saying that this had happened to them too.”
Fedyk and White describe Dunkin as a loveable friend who was obsessed with new people, children, and running at the beach. White recalls that during her pregnancy, before she was diagnosed with the blood pressure illness that forced her to deliver Juliette early, Dunkin started acting strangely. The usually mild mannered dog would bark whenever she moved, increasing in volume until she sat down again. Then he would lay his head on her chest. It only stopped when White gave birth. “The surgeons told me that this [was] a condition that I had had for weeks before I actually [gave birth], they just hadn’t been able to diagnose it yet,” she says, tears welling. “We’re 100 percent convinced he knew.”
“I feel so horrible in hindsight, believing that he actually even needed training,” Fedyk says. “Because he was genuinely perfect.”
Fedyk and White both know getting justice will most likely be a long process. But the two are also advocating for stricter animal cruelty laws, including a state-wide regulatory agency that could inspect dog boarding facilities and investigate reports of animal mistreatment.
“We would never have chosen to be the figurehead for change in this industry. We just want our dog back,” White says. “But if we can use his name and all the best things about him to incite change and real reform, then I will be happy that he has gotten just a little bit of justice for what happened to him.”
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