DALLAS, Texas — Editor's note: Updated with comments from Smart Dog Dallas at 7:10 p.m., April 19, 2023.
Heather Heflin spent her Tuesday driving back from her hometown in Louisiana.
She made the sudden trek to bury one of her best friends, her 20-pound brindle terrier mix named Drake that she said was mauled to death by a bigger dog at a Dallas boarding facility.
The facility, Smart Dog Dallas, said it was investigating the incident and working with all proper authorities, per a Facebook post made Wednesday afternoon.
Heflin, who rescued Drake as a puppy, was six years old. She said she left him at Smart Dog Dallas last Thursday, a boarding facility off Riverfront Boulevard, for the weekend while she went to New York for a bachelorette party.
While on the tarmac preparing to take off for the flight home, Heflin said she got a call from someone at the facility saying Drake was dead.
The little terrier's face and the awful news was on Heflin's mind the entire flight back to Dallas. Heflin adopted Drake after her grandmother suddenly passed away.
"It was grueling, and it was agony," Heflin said. "The one time he stays at a boarding facility, he gets brutally killed in the worst death imaginable."
She said this was Drake's first time being boarded, but Heflin wasn't overly worried.
Heflin shared photos and videos of her beloved dog and said he gets along with bigger dogs at her family's land in Louisiana. She said she even noted that when dropping Drake off.
But according to Heflin, a bigger dog also being boarded at Smart Dog Dallas didn't get along with Drake.
"They told me he was in an enclosed area, that they don't know what happened, but that a boxer was there with him and attacked him," Heflin said.
"When the Boxer finally released Drake, he was dead," she said.
Heflin's sister drove from Louisiana while she was in the air to better grasp the situation.
"My sister walked in to see him bloody, wrapped in a bloody towel," Heflin said.
"When I arrived and saw him, the only part of him that wasn't destroyed was his face," she said.
WFAA was shown photos of Drake's injuries and a video of Heflin confronting staff at the facility where they confirmed Drake was killed in their care.
WFAA reached out to Smart Dog Dallas for a better explanation of what happened on Tuesday. Emails weren't returned, and when a call was made, someone at the facility answered but said they would forward a request for comment to the manager/owner.
The facility posted the following on its Facebook page after this article was published:
Tragically, for the first time in Smart Dog's 11 years of business, a dog's life was lost at our facility in an unforeseeable incident with another dog.
First and foremost, our deepest condolences go out to the family. We are taking this situation very seriously and have been in contact with and available to the dog's human family.
The staff at Smart Dog is reeling, our hearts are broken, and we are beyond devastated at the tragic loss of the life of a precious pet. At Smart Dog, we are committed to ensuring the safety of your pets.
We will be providing further updates as we are able to under the circumstances. We are working with all appropriate authorities, and the incident is being fully investigated. We thank you for your patience as we work through this difficult situation and want to assure you that we take all customer concerns and feedback seriously.
Despite the post, Heflin said she still has questions and that the facility isn't being fully transparent with her.
"My immediate reaction was, how did this happen? Why wasn't an emergency vet notified? Explain more. Smart Dog Dallas has been unable to do so," Heflin said.
"Based on what I've heard from some employees that texted me, there wasn't anyone watching that enclosure at the time. That's not good enough, and I don't understand the lack of accountability and ownership," she said.
Heflin is consulting with an attorney to see what she can do next.
For now, she wants to get the word out about what happened after losing her best friend and her trust.
"It feels like a piece of my heart's missing," Heflin said.
