ST. LOUIS — Nine-month-old Jax is a happy, healthy puppy. But he's only half of the Goldendoodle duo the Jackson family brought home last summer.
He was adopted with his littermate Cash, and everything was going well until a training session February 18th.
"Cash did not like it at all," Mandy Jackson said of the training she believes killed Cash.
Jackson said she had previously boarded her puppies with Alastar K9 Training and was back for a follow-up session.
According to court documents, owner and trainer Capri Teague "placed [Cash] on a treadmill... attaching a leash to his pronged electronic shock collar... wrapping the leash around the front of the treadmill."
Jackson said Cash tried to jump off, and Teague -- according to a probable cause statement -- began "repeatedly pulling the leash to force Cash back on the treadmill". About five minutes later by Jackson's estimate, Cash began defecating on the floor and collapsed.
"He ended up just kind of falling on the ground," Jackson said. "At that point she even said 'he looks like a dead cat.' And I just remember looking at him and I knew something was really, really wrong because he was foaming at the mouth and wheezing."
5 On Your Side called the business number listed on Alastar K9's website, but it has been disconnected. Two people -- one who appeared to be Teague -- drove away from the Foristell business Saturday afternoon.
Jackson said she sent Cash's body off for a necropsy in Columbia, and the results showed the dog had liquid in his lungs "caused by trauma most consistent with choking."
"There was nothing wrong with my dog," Jackson said. "He was an 8-month-old puppy. And she is 100 percent to blame."
The Jackson family has adopted another dog -- 10-week-old Jameson -- from the same breeder. But Mandy Jackson wants to get the word out about what happened to Cash so no other family goes through what they went through.
"A lot of people ask me now, 'what would you recommend?'" Jackson said. "That's where I don't really know what to say. Because it happened right in front of me."