Lombaard said she was driving to work at about 8.30am when she saw a man walking a Boxer on Upper Park Drive and Erlswold Way, in Saxonwold.
“The dog walker was hitting and kicking the dog… I pulled over to take pics but when he saw me taking pics he ran over to me to stop me,” she claimed.
“It’s really horrible to see people treating animals in this way and I feel awful for the poor dog and its owners. I hope that somehow the owners can be tracked down and informed about this abuse.”
Lombaard posted the photos of the incident on the timeline of Facebook group, “I love Parkhurst”.
The photos caused an outburst where fellow dog lovers expressed their outrage.
After inspection of the post, general manager of the Sandton SPCA, Candice Scorer, said she could not comment on the incident itself as it was all just speculation at the time.
However, she did say that the SPCA was against any dog being beaten up by anyone.
“Firstly, if a pet owner cannot walk their own dog then maybe he or she should reconsider adopting,” advised Scorer.
“Yet, if someone does opt to acquire the services of dog walker then the owner should observe how the person interacts with the dog, and also to ensure that the walker is well-trained to do the job.”
She added, “Training a dog and taking it for a walk involves time but we advise that pet owners do it themselves as there is no way to guarantee that the dog walker will not be abusive towards the dog.”
Scorer encouraged people to report any similar incidents to their local SPCA.
Details: Sandton SPCA 011 444-7730.
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