WASHINGTON — More than a year after dogs and employees became trapped in rising water at District Dogs, the boarding facility will have to pay $100,000 for the deadly flooding.
The deadly event began when a rainstorm turned severe in a matter of minutes on Aug. 14, 2023. Flash flooding caused a front window at District Dogs on Rhode Island Avenue to collapse — trapping several dogs and employees as the water raised inside a boarding room.
Surveillance footage showed the water reached halfway up the double-decker cages, where sources told WUSA9 dogs were inside the kennels. A lawsuit filed on behalf of some of the pet owners states that many of the dogs at the day care had been moved into crates or kennels, arranged in rows or stacked on top of each other, even though certain dogs were not supposed to be crated at all.
According to rescuers, swimmers were able to evacuate six employees and 20 dogs, but as the water receded, they discovered the 10 dead dogs, including Elsa, Josie, Malee, Maple, Marcel, Memphis, Pepper and Zeni.
On Tuesday, AG Schwalb announced that District Dogs will be required to pay $100,000 for the deadly flooding. Additionally, the business is required to make safety and emergency preparedness improvements at all of its D.C. locations. The settlement comes after The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) opened an investigation into whether District Dogs misled customers about the safety of their pets at its Rhode Island Ave location.
“What happened at District Dogs’ Rhode Island Avenue location was a pet owner’s worst nightmare,” said Attorney General Schwalb. “Our investigation will result in improved safety at all of District Dogs’ facilities in D.C. — ensuring that no District resident loses a pet in such a tragic and avoidable way.”
Under the terms of a settlement agreement that resolves OAG’s investigation, District Dogs will be required to:
- Obtain a risk management certification for each DC location
- Develop detailed emergency response and evacuation plans for each DC location
- Train all staff on emergency response and evacuation procedures
- Keep its Rhode Island Ave location closed permanently
A spokesperson for District Dogs provided WUSA9 with the following statement:
"To bring this matter to an end, and to avoid the continued financial strain on our small business from an unnecessarily prolonged process, we agreed to settle this matter with one important condition – that the Attorney General’s Office agree as part of the settlement that there is no admission of wrongdoing by District Dogs whatsoever."
Jennifer Jones, the Deputy Attorney General for the Public Advocacy Division at the Office of Attorney General, said that is not true.
“We did not agree that they didn’t do anything," Jones said. "In fact, our investigation found that they were misleading consumers about safety at their rhode island location especially given the fact that there were 3 floods that happened in 2022.”
Jocelyn Lobos-Segura was one of the 10 families that lost their dog in the deadly flood. She told WUSA9, to this day, she has yet to hear from District Dogs owner, Jacob Hensley. She said Hensley has not reached out to extend his condolences or give a sincere apology.
“I just don’t think District Dogs should be operating," Lobos-Segura said. "It’s very clear they don’t care about their employees or the dogs under their care. They are just in it for the money.”
The office of AG says the $100,000 is a civil penalty. Families will not be getting any of that money.
A separate private lawsuit was filed in May by some of the owners of the dogs that were killed. The lawsuit, filed in D.C. Superior Court, names both District Dogs Inc. and its founder Jacob Hensley as the defendants. It claims the dog owners trusted the day care with their beloved dogs whose deaths they say were foreseeable and preventable.