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A Chester Township man who claims to be “the world’s leading authority on the rehabilitation of fighting and biting dogs” has been charged with multiple Title 4 animal cruelty violations after intentionally baiting a dog in his care to bite him and then beating the dog with a pipe, his bare hands20and his fist, causing extensive internal injuries.
Clark Municipal Court bench warrants were issued on Tuesday, November 18th, for the arrest of Jeffrey Loy, founder of the Center for Animal Behavioral Research, located on Schoolhouse Lane in Chester.
Loy was charged in connection with a 2007 incident involving a Clark family and their small dog. He also is being investigated for an incident in September 2008 when SPCA and Montclair Police authorities confiscated an 8,000 volt cattle prod from a Montclair resident and illegal slingshot that Loy had in connection with training a 13 pound silky terrier. The "Hot Shot/Red One - Sabre Six" electric livestock prod was recommended not to be used on any animal less than 200 pounds.
Loy said during a recent telephone media interview that the small dog in the Clark incident had bitten its owner nearly 50 times and that, after just one session with him, Loy was able to train the dog not to bite.
Corporal Al Peterson, an investigator with the New Jersey State SPCA Humane Police - Major Crimes Unit, signed a total of 12 criminal and civil Title 4 summonses for animal cruelty violations against Loy on October 29th, stemming from incidents involving a "dog training session" with a Shih Tzu owned by a Clark couple.
Loy failed to appear in Clark Municipal Court and on November 18th, Judge Antonio Inacio issued multiple first appearance failure to appear bench warrants (@$2,500 each) with the warrant amounts totaling $30,000 cash, with no 10% feature, for the arrest of Jeffrey Loy.
Several dog training experts said that enticing an aggressive dog to bite is an unacceptable practice. One longtime trainer also said that Loy’s rate of $1,000 per session was much higher than typical trainer rates.
A Biting Dog
The twelve municipal court bench warrants were issued as a result of an incident where Loy was hired to work with a 4-year-old Shih Tzu owned by two Clark residents, who could not be reached for comment at the time of this article, but referred all media inquiries to the NJ State SPCA Humane Police.
As a result of his investigation, Corporal Peterson reported that Loy visited the home of the Clark residents on November 24th, 2007, and was hired at a rate of $1,000 per training session. During the initial session, Loy “baited the Shih Tzu to bite him to determine what type of biting the dog was doing,” Peterson said.
“After the small dog bit Jeffrey Loy, he began inflicting pain against the dog by delivering a vicious beating to the dog,” Cpl. Peterson said. Peterson also said that Loy used a choke collar, an 18-inch PVC pipe, and his bar e hands and fist against the dog, and that Loy enticed the dog to bite him again and again and continued to beat the dog as a result. Cpl. Peterson, a 38-year law enforcement veteran, and a New Jersey State SPCA Humane Police Zone Supervisor for Essex County, said the second alleged session beating went on for about five minutes and that Loy also had a cattle prod present as a training aid.
During a recent media interview, Loy said that the Clark couple first called him in April 2007 and that he advised them to take their dog to other animal behaviorists. Seven months later, the dog owners allegedly called again and “They insisted I help them,” Loy said.
Loy found that the small dog was unpredictable and even its owner could not touch the dog without being bitten. Loy said the dog had bitten a number of people many times, and had also urinated and defecated in the house, attacked other animals, and barked incessantly. “They (the owners) were terrified of the dog,” Loy said.
Loy said that during his first visit, the dog bit him 63 times but that when the first session ended, the dog stopped biting, let its owner pick him up, and the dog could be walked without a leash. “The (owner) man was astonished at how well the dog behaved,” Loy said.
But Cpl. Peterson, as a result of his investigation and witness interviews, said Loy left the home after the session ended and the owners then noticed th at their dog was urinating blood. They immediately took their injured dog to the Central Jersey Veterinary Hospital in Iselin where the dog was diagnosed with a bruised liver and bladder, a broken rib and a ruptured blood vessel in its eye, and was later taken to the Garden State Animal Hospital in Tinton Falls for follow-up treatment that cost in excess of $1,100.
Loy said that when he left the Clark residence, the dog was no longer biting and that the dog’s behavior improved markedly, but Peterson disclosed that Loy later called the owners of the Clark owners of the Shih Tzu and told them that if they did not continue with the $1,000 per session program, that he (Loy) would call the authorities to have the dog removed from the home as a vicious animal.
“When that action was not successful and the dog owners did not continue the treatments, Loy threatened to have the dog killed,” Peterson said. The possibility of having Jeffrey Loy to classify the small dog as a vicious animal, to have it taken away, and to have the dog put to death was also echoed by the couple's veterinarian, who also recommended that the couple refrain from filing charges agai nst Loy.
The incident was investigated by the NJ State SPCA Humane Police in 2007 but the dog owners feared that their dog would be seized and euthanized. The case was re-opened this past September 2008 when Cpl. Peterson began investigating Loy after a cattle prod and illegal slingshot were confiscated from the home of an orthopedic surgeon in Montclair during a joint response by Cpl. Peterson, representing the NJ State SPCA Humane Police, the Montclair Police, and Montclair Animal Control.
Montclair Lt. James Carlucci said that Montclair police responded to the home after receiving a call from the NJ State SPCA Humane Police. He said the dog was impounded because it had bitten the owner two weeks earlier. The case is pending an investigation by the SPCA, Carlucci said.
Longtime Center
On his Center for Animal Behavioral Research website, Jeffrey Loy says he formed the center in 1975 and that he was formerly a longtime “instructor, trainer and researcher” at the Seeing Eye in Morristown. He claims the principles the center uses are based on “scientific studies of many animals, both domestic and wild. “The Center for Animal Behavioral Research is the world’s leading authority on the rehabilitation of biting dogs and fighting dogs,” the website says. “From this wealth of experience and comparative studies has come the only dog training program that absolutely prevents all behavioral problems in canines, regardless of breed.” Corporal Peterson’s investigation was able to prove that the address listed for the Center does not exist. The address provided is the location of a reputable massage therapy business.
Pia Silvani, director of training and behavior at St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center in Madison, said she was familiar with Loy but declined to comment on his practices. Silvani, an animal trainer for more than 20 years, said there have been many reports of inappropriate methods used by trainers around the nation. "Trainers abusing dogs in the name of training is rampant in the United States,” Silvani said. Silvani said she has never struck a dog and works to change behavior through a system of rewards. Silvani also suggested that pet owners seek a trainer who is either a certified animal behaviorist or a certified professional dog trainer.
Neither Jeffrey Loy nor the Center for Animal Behavioral Research is listed with the national agency that certifies dog trainers, the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers. Jeffrey Loy is also not listed as a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists.
Silvani also said an initial consultation should take about two hours and that the going rate is around $300, compared with the $1,000 charged by Jeffrey Loy.
Adam Goldfarb, a specialist with the Humane Society of the United States, said it was not appropriate to encourage a dog to bite as part of a behavior modification program. “Enticing a dog to bite is extremely strange,” Goldfarb said. “Trainers would be appalled at that. Overwhelmingly, trainers use methods based on positive reinforcement.”
Pet owners needing to contact the NJ State SPCA Humane Police regarding this article may feel free to call 1-800-582-5979 and leave a detailed message for Corporal Peterson along with their contact information or send an email via the SPCA website: www.NJSPCA.ORG.
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