Dog-death kennel owner might be ‘struck off’
Thursday 16th October 2008, 10:30AM BST.
A BOARDING kennel owner who tried to cover up the death of a customer’s dog might lose her trade association membership.
But National Association of Registered Pet Sitters director William Taylor said that it had yet to receive a complaint against 24/7 Petcare owner Jessica Valpied, 24, who won the 2005 national pet sitter of the year title.
‘We have had no contact from the dog owner, which is very strange,’ he said. ‘Usually we would get something very soon – we are the first place to turn.’
Miss Valpied (pictured) buried in a neighbouring field a dog that had died in her St Saviour’s kennels after having been attacked by two Staffordshire bull terrier crosses.
She then told the owner it had run off. In the Magistrate’s Court, she was fined £400 for stealing the dog’s body.
‘We have had no statement from her either. We will have to wait to work out whether she should continue to be a member,’ Mr Taylor said. In the association’s view Miss Valpied seemed to have been doing a good job in the past, but it knew little about the incident.
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I am a dog owner but I actually feel some sympathy for Jessica Valpied. She made one mistake in a seemingly otherwise excellent career and in a closed community like Guernsey it is unlikely she will be allowed to forget it.
I don’t condone what she did which was obviously wrong however hounding her out of business or treating her like some evil killer will not bring the dog back and is disproportionate to her crime.
The courts have acted and justice has been done. Now it is time for mercy. Please, people of Guernsey – allow her to rebuild her career and reputation in peace.
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What till the next time…
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I totally disagree with you Paul – I’m sorry. There is no excuse for what Jessica done. If it wasn’t for her workmates telling their parents who in turn told the Police, Jessica would now be thinking that she has got away with what she done. If she’d got away with it would she have done the same thing again ?…….I think she probably would have.
No, there’s only one thing for it – she has to be struck off and never allowed to look after pets or animals again. She can’t be trusted !!!
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Sounds to me like it was a terrible accident and the lady, like a lot of us, panicked. One lie then led to another as they do. I am sure that she is a very kind carer of animals that has had a horrible experience and feels awful. We all learn as we go through life and there but for the grace of God go we all! How many of us have had to run round to find a replacement goldfish! This accident was a lot more serious for the poor owner of the unfortunate dog and the carer but Life is a learning curve,and I am confident that the young lady has learnt from the experience and hopefully will continue to care for many more loved pets in the future.
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So the young girl has made an error of judgement?
Maybe it was a member of her staff?
MORE likely it was a case of an aggresive animal that acts on instinst.
Is GUERNSEY loking to use this as a smoke screen cos what is done is done.
Learn from it.
What is happening with peoples investments?
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We all lie one point in our life, eg when your late for work what do you say to your boss. So some people get found out and some do not. That life! I feel very sorry for Jessica, she is a young person. Just think all the good she has done for this island. She has done ONE thing wrong.
Best friends about a year or so, took a pill bull terrier to the children park and a poor man got his leg ATTACK what happened about that?
The dog is dead and there is nothing, no one can do.
There is better thing to think about, like what happening to the Banks and our jobs.
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John – read what I wrote please (the Paul who wrote at 5.52am is a different one to me) I am not excusing what she did. What I said what that justice has been done and she should now be allowed to rebuild her career.
She obviously cares about animals – she won awards for her work with them. In fact she’s probably done more for animals than most of the people here baying for her head put together.
I challenge anyone to say truthfully that you have NEVER in your entire life tried to cover up something to protect yourself or your reputation. If you can then you’re either perfect, have a bad memory or you’re lying. If like me you can’t then consider how you would want to be treated in the same circumstances.
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Geraldine – well written. My thoughts exactly :-)
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Yes well written indeed Caroline; and also Paul.
I wonder how many of us has at some time done likewise…not with animals but in other ways.
To all who are against the young Lady I say this;
Who will throw the first stone;
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Eric, I would throw the first stone she deserves to be shut down…there are other kennels and I am sure they will be well used now after all this. Who in their right mind will take their dog or dogs to Valpied now she cannot be trusted.
As for covering up anything maybe we all have at sometime, but NEVER I would think about lying to someone that their Dog has runaway when it had already been buried…get a life you hypocrits.
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Mandy: Of course you have the right to express your views on this awful incident.
However may I just say; when asked who will throw the first stone: It means.—-
That you have never sinned, or made any mistakes.
I am very pleased to hear that you are one; and I can assure you it is not I who is the hypocrite.
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i totally and whole heartedly agree eric like ive said numerous of times not one of us are perfect angels. its very sad that the majority feel they have never lied in their entire life, yes (jessica) was young and foolish havent we all been that at some point in our lives to some degree or another? on the flip side she has done many good things with animals, more than most on guernsey i suppose, but this one incident has cost her dearly and many tears have been shed on all sides no doubt. but come on people you have to have a heart of compassion and forgiveness, bitterness is not a nice trait in anyone!!
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As a concerned Dog owner who feels that my Dogs are part of my Family are we not forgetting that some answers are required to some rather disturbing questions.
1. If this lady was in charge of looking after Children and 2 children had attacked another Child to the extent of causing death, would she still be forgiven if she were to have buried that Child in a field.
2. What is the lay out of the Kennels, were these dogs in the same cage, as I can’t quite get my head around how they all managed to be in contact.
3. It has stated that she made the staff clean the Kennal blocks, by what I have read were these also youngsters.Who in their right mind would make anyone do this.
4. It has also been stated that the staff members couldn’t keep the secret any longer and were compeled to tell their parents.This also indicates that the staff members were young.What a burden on these poor individuals to have to carry around in their minds. This could cause them serious distress.
Finally I feel this wasn’t an act out of panic. People who panic don’t act calmly and insure all avenues are covered up. To actually take the dog to a field and bury it and to arrange cleaning of the kennels etc took organising.This Lady had 3 chances to tell the truth yet still chose to keep lying.
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I completely and whole heartedly agree with Tracie.
I’m not pushing for her to be shut down, her customers will determine that one anyway…..regardless of that to put an animal who shares your home into the care of another person requires trust, when there are other options available I personally choose not to go with someone who has been deceitful.
She is young and I wish her the best in re building her career in this field or any other.
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As an animal lover Jessica will have a heavy heart for a long time to come. That in itself is punishment. I do fear for my animals safety if we meet the dogs responsible.
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Just give Jessica another chance,why are you all attacking her ? Im sure she regrets trying to cover up what happened, WE ALL MAKE MISTAKES ! DONT WE ?
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SARAH & TRACIE
You have never made a mistake then?
Good for you cos you are amongst the minority.
Knock yourself out, and about.
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i would just like to say that jessica was responsale for arte, weather it was an accident or not she shouldnt have covered it up, the owners of all 3 dogs should have been informed,for the safty of other dogs and also so that the onwers of arte could have come to turms with the death of as belovered family pet! the fact that other dogs have actually gone missing from the kennels aswell, (a friend asctually found a westie wondering around the cliffs that was ment to be boarding at the kennels) doesnt give me any faith in these kennels what so ever, i personally think she should have her kennel licence revoked. the former owner of these kennels never had these unfortuate acidents happen before so why now! this surely says something bout the running of these kennels! also inresponse to other post about staffordshire bull terriers, these are not infact pit bull terrers aka american staffordshire bull terriers, the pit bull is illigal in guernsey and the uk so please dnt get them mixed up also staffies, ansertory states that they are infact fighting dogs pitted againts each other many years ago, the staffie that many people own today are loyal family pets that love children and people. arte was a nervious dog when it came to beeing cages and also being around other dogs and even people jessica knew this when the dog arrived at the kennels and the paper work stated that atre shouldnt have been put near other dogs for this reson, so why was he ina kennel block full of other dogs!! now read this and deside who is in the wrong now!!
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also before any1 say aint u ever made a mistake yes i have many in fact but nothing like this i work with animals and deal with the death of animals on a daliy basic, maybe if jessica saw the way the owners react when thay lose a pet she may not have covered it up!! what would she be doing now if she was atres owner!!!!!
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im sick mof hearing the poor girl made a mistake.
she deserved to of got more than a £400 pound fine.
if shes lied about this what else has she lied about.
shes not fit to the job ,she should be struck off and deserves to be taken to the cleaners by the poor owners of the dog.
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Paul, this isn’t about making mistakes its about taking responsibility. Its about being in charge of someone’s beloved pet. Its about leaving a family with young children distressed believing that there was hope that Arte was still alive, then crushing their hope and then finding out that that Arte had been buried in a hidden grave. There is mistakes that we all make but by justifing these actions by saying “we all make mistakes” is obsurd! Isn’t that a cop out? What ever happened to Honesty is the best policy.
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I have been around animals all my life and no myself what it is like to a pet to die or run away. My cat recently got run over and just thrown on the roadside! It is heartbreaking that someone would do that, animals are just like humans and there should be laws regarding animals too, I mean if you ran a child over would you just throw he/she to the roadside?? Which is exactly what cames to mind with this case…. if your dog killed a child would you clear the mess and then bury the child and say that he or she had run away??
I have heard that the family is asking for more money…. and although I feel strongly that what Jessica did is wrong no amount of money is going to bring back the dog or stop the family from missing their pet, is the fact that Jessica has been ‘named and shamed’ and will probably lose alot (if not all) of custom not enough???
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I WOULD SOONER NOT GO AWAY THAN LEAVE MY MUCH LOVED PET IN THE CARE OF THIS SO CALLED ANIMAL LOVER.PLEASE WILL EVERYONE GET REAL AND STOP THE POOR GIRL COMMENT .A MUCH LOVED PET WAS TRUSTED IN HER CARE ,IF THE CARERS HAD NOT TOLD ON HER WOULD SHE EVER HAVE BEEN FOUND OUT.IF IT WAS YOUR DOG WOULD YOU STILL BE SAYING POOR GIRL .I DOUBT IT.
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diana get off you high horse it was all delt with incorrectly yes we all know this but to keep harping on isnt going to change things is it?DONT YOU THINK THAT YOU SHOULD ALL CONCENTRATE ON WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DOGS THAT CAUSED ALL THIS IN THE FIRST PLACE?I THINK THAT SHOULD BE THE PRIOITY DONT YOU?
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she needs to be struck off and never allowed to work with animals again. It was a gross error of judgement and a very cold thing to do to the owners who placed their pet in her care. How anyone can trust their pet with her after this is beyond me.
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Interesting to see how many posts there are on this one…as soon as a local jugular vein is exposed to the community, at large, there is no hesitation in coming in for the kill!
Flogging a dead horse comes to mind….
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Well I can tell that none of you have ever been in a third world country, Where dog’s get beaten, stoned, shot and eaten. Just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is not cruelty, Very few poeple in this island have seen really cruelty to animals, This was a misake but a young girl
The kid has been dealt with by the police and the Guernsey courts.. She had her punishment, leave her be..
And I would suggest we start worring about the rest of the wide world where kids are left to die in the street of disease, starvation, being pushed in to prostitution or working in sweat shop in the back streets of Delhi just to have enought to eat. Insted of taking cheap shots at the young girl who made a mistake.
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if anyone leaves their pet in her care after this ,then they dont love the animal enough.SHE SHOULD BE STRUCK OFF.this was no trivial mistake.Those poor owners deserved the truth
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This isn’t a third world country, this is guernsey where this sort of thing is not expected or wanted. i think that she went a bit over the top and panicked when the dog was discovered dead but to bury it without telling the owners and knowing that they were looking for their pet was unexcusible, she should have faced the facts and apologised profusely. it would have not made it any better but it would have been better than to be branded a corpse theif and given the poor owners of the dog false hope.
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