‘Completely shocked’: Tacoma dog trainer recalls moment she saw footage of staged dogfight at facility

A 60-year-old employee at a Tacoma dog training facility was charged Tuesday for teaching two dogs to fight each other last year, leading to both dogs being injured.

The suspect was charged with two counts of first-degree animal cruelty for the November 11, 2025 incident at the PacwestK9 dog training facility on 6th Avenue in Tacoma, according to court records obtained by The Tacoma News Tribune.

“I’ve never had an incident like this, ever,” Gina Lopez, owner of PacwestK9, told MyNorthwest. “The reality is, there’s no operation that is immune to an individual making a bad decision. It completely took us off guard. I was so shocked when I saw what I saw. I didn’t let him back into my shop. Just again, completely shocked.”

According to the probable cause affidavit, an officer was dispatched to the facility on November 21, 2025, where a witness working for the company had shown officers security footage of the alleged attack.

Lopez detailed how the incident came to light through a client complaint who arrived at the facility, noticed the suspect was bleeding, and drove him to the hospital. Lopez contacted law enforcement immediately after hearing the complaint and fully cooperated with authorities as they investigated.

“Basically, I was informed of a dog bite, and when I checked the security cameras, I saw that it was an incident that was provoked by one of the team members,” Lopez said. “That does not reflect how we operate, and I called the authorities immediately.”

Security camera records employee prompting aggressive dogs to confront each other

At approximately 5:40 p.m. that day, footage showed the suspect sitting on a bench drinking water with multiple dogs around him. The employee was allegedly seen saying he wanted to see a fight.

The man allegedly said, “I need a fight” and “Whose dog are you going to fight tonight?” according to The Tacoma News Tribune.

“We do not have that sort of language at PacwestK9,” Lopez said in an interview with MyNorthwest responding to the report. “We are very structured, and the well-being of the dogs comes first.”

The footage also pictured the suspect walking to a kennel and asking the dog if it wanted to fight another dog. One of the dogs, a tan Doberman named Thanos, walked out of the kennel. Another dog, a Labrador mix named Nino, then approached Thanos. The witness told the officer that the man knew Thanos and Nino were aggressive toward each other, according to court documents.

The dogs began barking and growling at each other. The suspect allegedly held Thanos to the ground and allowed Nino to bite him in the front leg. The man also yelled that he had been bitten on the arm and let go of Thanos.

The dogs then bit each other, and the suspect was unable to separate them. Eventually, the two dogs separated on their own after roughly two minutes of fighting.

“He in no way reflects our standard or our structure,” Lopez said. “It was just an isolated incident from someone who made a really, really bad decision. I’m just holding him accountable.”

The witness asked the man to explain what had happened, and he said Thanos escaped from the kennel and attacked Nino. The witness confirmed that the suspect’s story did not match what was seen on the footage.

Documents showed Thanos had puncture wounds to his legs and foot, while Nino had puncture wounds to his neck and face.

PacwestK9 confiscated employee’s key, terminated him shortly after incident

At the time of the incident, PaceestK9 had four employees, and the suspect was working alone at the facility. Lopez confirmed the suspect was terminated after concerns were raised about a dog being harmed while on his watch.

“We told him first to heal up. I was in contact with L&I, and I told them about the incident. I called Animal Control, and I made a police report,” Lopez said. “I asked if I should fire him immediately, they said, ‘Don’t let him come back into work, but don’t fire him just yet.’ We took his key right away so he had no access back to the shop, and then as soon as they gave us the go-ahead, we fired him.”

The employee was with the company for three months, and Lopez noted he seemed like a hard worker and “pretty normal,” as the company worked through the hiring process.

“He had a shadow program he did prior to working with us, and then, once hired, he still was being managed for like the next three weeks,” Lopez said. “He had quite a bit of oversight over him, and he seemed really good with the dogs, and was a very hard worker. Pretty normal.”

The police report noted that the man had knowingly inflicted pain and injury on both dogs when he allowed them to fight. The suspect also caused injury and pain to Thanos when he put the dog on the ground for Nino to bite him.

Dog trainer flooded with claims of ‘promoting dog fights’ despite years of positive influence

Lopez explained how the incident has cast a negative light on her business, despite her 12-year track record of training dogs in the area and her time spent rescuing dogs and placing them in good homes.

“I started getting calls from random people saying, ‘Why are you promoting dog fights?’ and then one-star reviews,” Lopez said. “I was like, ‘Whoa, what’s going on?’ He’s not a dog trainer; we don’t train dogs to fight, and he never represented dog training under me and my business.

“We’re built on structure, safety, and that’s what we promote,” Lopez continued. “I take what happened seriously, and I just handled it as it needed to be handled. I stand behind what I did.”

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