Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Ben Westcott, Chronicle Staff Writer
Owners of several of the 21 dogs that died from alleged lack of water and ventilation at Anastasia’s Acres Dog Boarding came to the Sept. 16 Argyle court arraignments of Robert and Anastasia Palulis, who owned the business.
Several told The Chronicle about how they found out their dogs were dead, how they view the court case, and how they are pushing for justice.
Mrs. Elmore said, “When my husband first got the call and he dropped the phone and said ‘she’s gone,’ I thought, ‘Okay, she got out, we have to go find her.’
“And then he said ‘no, she’s gone.’ Never did we expect that. Never.”
Danielle Barber of Glens Falls said police informed that their dogs, Luna and Odin, were dead.
“We were on vacation when we got the phone call,” she said. “We were in South Carolina, and it was the police investigator that actually called us.”
She said the Palulises “did not call us” and “the first thing that we heard from them was the generic letter that was clearly written by their lawyer to make them look compassionate. We’re just trying to move on.”
Leah Brown of Hudson Falls said, “I got the call when we were in New Hampshire from the Washington County Sheriff.”
The Elmores said they’d boarded their dog Rex at the facility four times before.
“Never did we have any indications that there were that many dogs on the site,” Mrs. Elmore said. “I saw three at the most, other than Piglet.”
Ms. Barber said she boarded her dogs there once the year before. “There was nothing showing the amount of neglect for them being in a 10 by 16 shed with crates on top of each other,” she said.
“Had we known that’s how our dogs were going to be kept, we never ever would have dropped them off there. That is not how this place is portrayed at all. It’s honestly like false advertising.”
Mrs. Brown was boarding a dog there for the first time. She also feels misled.
“They said they had a monitoring system all over, and they didn’t. And if I knew that they were going to have 22 dogs, I would have never dropped off Rex.”
Cody Shields of Argyle was on vacation in New Jersey. They lost three dogs — Brutus, Brunhilda and Loki.
“We had two German shepherds and a Presa Canario. We dropped them off Saturday at 10 a.m. and they were dead by 8 a.m. the following day. Less than 24 hours, and our dogs are gone.”
Mr. Shields says his daughter, two-and-a-half, “was obsessed with these dogs. She asks where they’re at every day.”
“When we toured the facility,” he says, “there were five dogs. I thought the yards were nice, there was enough space. If I would have went there and saw 20 plus dogs, I wouldn’t have went on vacation.”
“It was a shoe box,” he says now. “You can’t fit 22 dogs in the shed that they had them in. I would have pulled my dogs out immediately.”
Mr. Shields is trying to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.
“The day I got back I sent 10 to 15 e-mails to legislators, lawmakers, politicians, news stations, anything I could,” he said. “I created a petition on change.org called Justice For 21 Dogs, and I started creating a legislative bill called the New York State Safe Petboarding Act.
“[State] Senator [James] Tedisco took the bill that we created, and he’s already trying to get it on the floor.
“We’re not going to stop until there’s legislation put in place,” Mr. Shields said. “This needs to be the example that sets legislation in place moving forward.”
The Palulises each pleaded not guilty in Argyle Town Court to 22 misdemeanor counts of overdriving/torturing/injuring animals and failure to provide proper sustenance to the dogs in their care.
Initially the Palulises did not show up to court. Their attorney argued the security in the courtroom was inadequate. But Judge Stacy Davis said security was sufficient and directed the attorney to call and tell them to appear, after which the Palulises came before the judge.
Mr. Shields says, “The fact that they tried to not show up and have their lawyer represent them is a slap in the face to us as well as the pets. And then the fact that they’re pleading not guilty to this whole situation is mind blowing.”
Mrs. Elmore said, “I was very pleased with how the judge made them show up,” but added “the arrogance with which they walked in and pleaded not guilty, I was shocked. How could you just steal the lives of 21 animals and not recognize you did something wrong? Unbelievable.”
Ms. Barber said, “They were just completely disrespectful. The fact they thought they could be late or that they were coming into some angry mob is just ridiculous. Yes, we’re angry, but we all know how to behave civilized.”
Outside the courthouse, people held paintings of their deceased dogs gifted from Fort Edward artist Shay DeRusso.
“I think she did a great job at depicting the nature of the dogs,” Ms. Barber said. “Luna looks exactly like she does in the picture, and so does Odin. She even captured his little teeth that stick out on the bottom.”
Mrs. DeRusso lost her own dog last year. “I know how that feels,” she said. “It’s a very painful experience to go through. So as an artist I figured I would try to help the families heal a little bit through receiving artwork. Art is healing.”
She’s painted 18 of the dogs so far. “I was able to find almost everybody,” she said. “There’s only three dogs that I have not been able to find yet.”
As the dog owners interacted and shared stories outside the Argyle Courthouse, it seemed a shared bond formed. “I feel like it definitely brought us together under poor circumstances,” Ms. Barber said. Mrs. Elmore said wistfully, “I would have rather this had been a pet fest event.”
The Chronicle has been unable to make contact with the Palulises. They are next due in Argyle Town Court on Oct. 21 at 5:30 p.m.
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