MONTGOMERY COUNTY — Service dog Nico had become too aggressive to others, owner Dale Kidd said, so he sent the animal to a local trainer last year.
After spending three weeks with the trainer, Kidd said he considered putting the 3-year-old German shepherd down because he had become so violent until Kidd believed he had no other option.
>> EARLIER COVERAGE: Local dog trainer charged with additional offenses
The trainer was Jason Thomas Jones, of Huber Heights, who owned and operated Dayton Dog Trainer LLC, which claimed to provide obedience training and training for support animals. Jones and his business now stand indicted on 195 criminal charges -- 77 of which were added by a Montgomery County grand jury this week -- ranging from participating in corrupt activity to theft by deception to animal cruelty.
“I was sitting there crying,” Kidd told News Center 7′s Kayla McDermott on Wednesday night, recalling how he felt when Nico was returned to him after being trained at Jones’s place. “I said, ‘I’m going to have to put my puppy down.’ "
Kidd acquired the dog after he was injured in a 2019 accident that left him paralyzed. The partnership was a good one, until “he would bark and be aggressive in the yard, to both neighbors and their dogs.”
That’s when Kidd sent Nico to Dayton Dog Trainers LLC. Three weeks and $4,500 later, Nico was more aggressive.
“I could just see the way he looks like he’s going to attack,” Kidd recalled, noting that Nico also showed signs of abuse. The dog would hide and shake in the late afternoons, Kidd said.
“I hope he gets better,” Kidd said, admitting he’s not surprised by the size of the criminal case against Thomas -- nearly 200 charges, 133 victims from whom he is accused of stealing $370,000. Two other people indicted with Thomas -- Tabatha Taverna, 47, of Dayton, and Jennifer Long, 39, of Huber Heights push the total number of charges in the case beyond 200. Their cases are pending, county Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr. said this week.
“But for what [Thomas] did our dog and these other dogs,” Kidd said. “Yeah, he’s got to pay.”
Mary Kidd said Nico “came back malnourished. He’d lost a good 15, almost 20 pounds.”
She thinks there are more victims to be found.
The Kidds said they’ve had to pay $3,000 to another trainer to un-do what they accuse Thomas and Dayton Dog Trainer LLC of doing to Nico.
That most recent investment essentially has saved Nico from being put down.
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