Steve Croley High Caliber K9 raid - dogs found dead

[ForumManager]

So saddened by your loss.

[nitrofoundation]

Our dog Nitro was starved to death while in the care of High Caliber K9 in Youngstown. We are from NYC and are trying to seek justice - Please visit our website for more information.

www.nitrofoundation.com

For purposes of keeping this short, we will give you a quick synopsis of what has happened to our family.

When our first Rottweiler, Kato, died (due to old age) we knew that we needed to try and give another dog the loving, caring and affection that every dog deserves and that Kato of course got. After no deliberation, we ended up going to an Ohio breeder to pickup a Rottweiler puppy named Bella. When it was our time to go back home to New York, we could not stop ourselves from adding yet another member to our family. It was from this point on that our family was complete with two of the most beautiful and loving dogs anyone could ever ask for- brother and sister, Nitro and Bella. Throughout the coming months, (although both smart) Nitro seemed to understand more than dog commands. He was a dog too smart to be a dog. But Nitro still was as much of a dog as any other; he loved playing indoors and outdoors, getting his long walks multiple times a day, smelling the air when the breeze picked up, chewing his bones, getting eggs cooked for him every morning for breakfast, etc. After a little time we realized that we should provide Nitro with every possibility that we could afford to give him. At this point we started to look for a trainer that would be able to relate to him and his special abilities. The breeder where we got Nitro and Bella from offered training. Appropriately enough, Nitro went there for a month of training back in 2006. The man who cared for Nitro and even took him home [so that he did not get home sick by being in a kennel] was Steve Croley, (whom worked directly with the breeder).

Months later, Steve branched off and opened his own training facility called High Caliber K-9. After many calls, emails, visits and recommendations we knew we had found the right place for Nitro - Steve's. After all, Nitro knew Steve and had been under his care not too long ago. This training facility was dedicated to establishing a "track record of providing the absolute best Personal Protection, Companion, Law enforcement, Family protection and Police K-9's available." Needless to say, this facility was regarded as the 'Ivy League' of special dogs training facilities.

After much back and forth deliberation of sending Nitro out of state, we decided that this training and get-away for Nitro would be the best thing for him. In order to of course better him, make him happy and challenge him. Although Bella would miss him, we had no doubt in our minds that she would see him soon and that they would be able to be together. In late June 2008, we dropped Nitro off at what we called 'summer camp' at High Caliber K-9 in Youngstown, Ohio. While there, we not only did training with Steve but we also had dinner with him and his wife at their High Caliber K-9 house/facility. At no point were there any signs that gave us any reason to question the integrity and the intentions of High Caliber K-9 and Steve Croley.

On Saturday October 25th we found out that High Caliber K-9 had been raided by local law enforcement 3 day earlier. Refer to article:http://www.vindy.com/news/2008/oct/23/dogs-at-kennel-found-dead/

What they had found was horrifying: "Bones, carcasses, decay, it was horrible, it was enough to make you gag and throw up and cry", said Nikole Owen CEO of Animal Charity. As per the article, http://www.vindy.com/news/2008/oct/23/d ... ound-dead/,

Kyle Ziegler and Joe Borosky, Animal Charity humane agents, went to the business Wednesday afternoon after a woman called and complained that she couldn't get her dog back from the man operating the place. The agents knocked but no one answered, so they got permission to look from the next-door neighbor's backyard.

What they saw moved them to call police.

After spending hours upon hours on the phone, we still could not get any answers about whether our Nitro was alive or dead. We soon made our way to Youngstown Ohio to found out for ourselves what really was going on.

On Monday October 27th, 10:00am we found out that our Nitro was one of the seven deceased dogs. Around noon, we also found out that the original 19 counts of cruelty charges had been reduced to 4. Of the 15 dropped charges, Nitro was one of them.

Joe Borosky claims that he entered the property because he saw multiple dogs with their bones and spines bulging out, staggering around as if drunk and knew this was "exigent circumstances" and these dogs were all in big trouble.