PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Three Walmart employees and two dog owners suffered injuries during an incident involving two dogs fighting inside the store in Palm Harbor, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office (PCSO).
Deputies responded to the Walmart in the 35000 block of US 19 North just before 1 p.m. on April 14 after receiving a report of two dogs fighting inside.
WATCH: 5 people injured after dog fight inside Walmart in Palm Harbor: PCSO
The five people involved sustained minor injuries, with one individual transported to the hospital for high blood pressure, per the PCSO's report.
Deputies said one of the dogs is a terrier mix and the other is a chihuahua mix.
Animal Control reported to the scene.
The two dogs were not service animals, per PCSO.
Dog Training Elite in Clearwater trains 25 to 30 dogs a week.
“Most of our service dogs go through six months to a year of training,” said trainer Aaron Tullis.
Tullis says, bringing a dog with no training, into a place like Walmart, is unacceptable.
“It’s frustrating right, we put a lot of time into working on these dogs, getting them ready for that type of environment, and then to see someone just go, ‘you know what we are going to forgo all the rules,”’ said Tullis. “We see the signs on the Walmart door, ‘don’t bring a pet in here,’ it’s only for service animals, and they bring it in anyway, and now that makes it more difficult for us who do have a real service dog.”
Dog Training Elite says, unfortunately, these types of incidents are happening way too often.
“You’re bringing your dog into this environment, you know there is chaos there sometimes,” said Tullis. “There are people coming in and out, there are lots of noises, people are loading shelves, there is beeping going on, and if your dog is not trained for that it’s going to be extremely stressed.”
Walmart issued this statement: “The safety of our associates and customers is a top priority. We only invite service animals defined by ADA guidelines to shop with us at Walmart.”
“It actually is a criminal offense to misrepresent an animal as a service animal,” said Tullis. “I don’t know if they did misrepresent it, I wasn’t there, but if they did it is absolutely a criminal offense to do so.”
People at a Pinellas County dog park also spoke about the incident. They say you can love your pet but at the same time follow the rules.
“People are just more pre-occupied with their own world and what they want to do and they don’t really care about the larger picture, they don’t care about their neighbors, the rest of the people in the store, going back to the Walmart situation, it’s just like, ‘I’m going to do what I’m going to do,’” said Maria Escott.
“I’m a dog lover, I volunteer at animal services a lot of the time, but at the end of the day it’s a dog, it’s not a child, it doesn’t need to be with you all the time, dogs don’t need to be in stores, they should be at home or at a dog park, at a dog appropriate place,” said Jessica Henderson.
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