Kara Brownlee was caught on camera slamming a Golden Retriever puppy to the ground at Runyon Canyon — and she says if she saw that viral video, she would be livid too.
Brownlee, who has been a dog walker and trainer for 10 years, says she knows how the six second clip looks and wants people to hear what really happened.
“He was on hind legs and pulling me and pulling me and pulling me and I had close grip to the collar, and my goal was to do a quick pop down into a down,” she explained. “Now I notice in the video, he was kind of to the side so when I did a pop, it flipped him.”
After the video ends, they kept walking and the dog was fine, Brownlee said, and he didn’t act scared of her then or later.
Since the video appeared on social media, she says she’s been getting dozens of hateful messages, voicemail and emails, including death threats. But she wants everyone to know she loves animals and that she does not abuse them.
Her friends have come to her defense, saying she walks packs every day, has had hundreds of videos taken of her over the years and this is the first time she has ever been accused of abuse.
“I want people to know that it was an overcorrection. I was in no way, shape or form trying to hurt this dog,” Brownlee said. “To think that someone thinks I’m abusing them based off of a video, it’s just awful.”
The owner of the Golden Retriever seen in the video fired Brownlee after seven years of working together. Brownlee says the worst part is losing her client’s trust, but that such an incident will never happen again.