Marian Harris, of Aledo, says that last October, she gave long-time veterinarian Dr Lou Tierce permission to euthanize Sid after the doctor told her that the pup was suffering from a congenital spinal disorder.
But last Monday, Mrs Harris got a call from a former employee at the animal clinic telling her that her dog has been kept alive in a cage for the past six months.
In a scene straight out of the 1992 family classic Beethoven, Marian Harris and her husband, Jamie, marched down to the animal clinic and discovered Sid imprisoned in a pen in a back room.
‘The betrayal is so incredibly intense that nothing you have prepares you for the emotions. There’s anger, there’s joy that you have your dog back, there’s betrayal of this intense trust. And so it’s just really hard to camp on one particular emotion,’ Harris told CBS DFW.
The family drove the pooch to another clinic, where a veterinarian determined that Sid did not need to be put down at all.
‘It was like getting punched in the stomach and then some,’ Marian Harris told the station NBC DFW. ‘This has rocked our world. My kids are like, “How does somebody do this?” How does this happen?"’
On Tuesday, police officers descended on Camp Bowie clinic in the 5700 block of Lovell Avenue and seized two more dogs as evidence.
The State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners has launched an investigation to determine if any other animals were mistreated at the clinic.
Late Wednesday afternoon, Dr Tierce spoke out in his own defense, calling the allegations against him 'a bunch of hooey.'
Speaking to the Star Telegram, the veteran medic said that it was Mrs Harris who wanted her dog euthanized, but he could not bring himself to do it. Tierce also said Mary Brewer, who contacted the Harris family about their dog, was just a disgruntled former employee who wanted to get back at him. The former Camp Bowie staffer, however, insisted that she quit her job because she could not continue working in a place where animals are mistreated.
For Sid and the Harris family, it all started last May when the family brought their 170-pound pet to the Fort Worth clinic to be treated for a minor anal gland issue, The Star Telegram reported.
Dr Tierce told the Harrises he wanted to treat Sid with a new ‘cold laser’ and warned them that it could take the dog longer to recover, according to the family’s complaint filed April 22 with the Texas State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners.
By October, Sid’s condition has deteriorated to the point where he could not lift his hind legs and had to drag his body on the ground.
Around that time, Dr Tierce allegedly informed the owners that their dog had a congenital spinal defect, and the best course of action would be to put him down because there was no cure for his condition. The veterinarian even kindly offered to bury the 5-year-old Leonberger on his farm.
The family gave Tierce the green light to euthanize Sid, and even brought their son, Cole, to the clinic to say his final farewell to the four-legged friend. ‘So I brought him [Cole] in and had our tearful goodbyes, and we went over very specifically our plans for burial of Sid, and that was the end of it,’ Marian Harris recalled.
Then on April 21, out of the blue Mrs Harris got a call from Mary Brewer, a former employee at Camp Bowie, who told the woman that Dr Tierce never euthanized Sid, and instead he has kept him around as a plasma donor for other pets.
‘I remember coming in and them extracting blood from Sid, and basically shaving him, extracting his blood for the other animal upstairs,’ Brewer said to MyFox DFW, adding that the dog was kept locked up almost the whole time, denied treatment and he had been injured by another worker.
According to the Harrises’ complaint, ’The clinic was using Sid (and other dogs) for blood transfusions and other experimental treatments.’
Ms Brewer explained that she did not go to police right away because she has a criminal record, which could have undermined her credibility.
When Marian Harris stormed into the clinic and found Sid living in a cage, covered in his own urine and feces, she confronted Dr Tierce about the deceit.
‘He said, “I didn't put him down because my staff said they would quit if I did,”’ said Mrs Harris.
The veterinarian who evaluated Sid after his dramatic rescue found that the 5-year-old dog had mange and showed ‘definite signs of having been used for blood transfusions.’
In a brief phone interview with MailOnline Wednesday afternoon, Jamie Harris said that Sid is currently resting at home and is in 'reasonable health.'
According to Sid's owner, the pooch still has rehabilitation ahead of him, but an MRI has confirmed that he never had a congenital spinal defect.
Mary Brewer revealed that there was also a cat that Dr Tierce was supposed to put down because he had abscess in his mouth and could not eat.
‘Dr Tierce changed his name to Graling, had us put him in the dog ward and left him there, and this time that I came back in in 2013, he's still there,’ said the former clinic staffer.
See Sid's pictures with his family
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