Bye bye, Buddy: Yukon kennel owner fined for giving away woman's dog

She still has no idea where her dog Buddy is, but Emerald Gillespie says she's satisfied with her day in court.

The Whitehorse woman sued the owner of a Tagish dog kennel, Shelley Cuthbert, accusing her of refusing to give Buddy back to her after a kennel stay.

On Friday, Yukon Territorial Court justice Heino Lilles ruled in Gillespie's favour, and fined Cuthbert $3,600 in damages and court costs.

"I had two choices in the beginning — one was to drive up in a pickup truck and steal my dog forcibly, but I chose to go the legal route," Gillespie said. "I think I did the right thing.

"I got to see an objective party tell Shelley what she did was wrong."

Gone to Alberta

Gillespie originally brought Buddy to Cuthbert's facility last spring, for a spell of behavioural re-training, or "doggy bootcamp."

Soon after, Gillespie determined she couldn't care for Buddy herself, and found a home willing to take him. But when she went to retrieve him from Cuthbert's kennel, she was refused.

Gillespie later returned with a court order to retrieve the animal, but Cuthbert told her Buddy had been sold to a new home in Alberta.

Judge Lilles ruled that Cuthbert's actions were wrong, and an abuse of court process. He fined her $2,500 in punitive damages and $1,100 more to cover Gillespie's court costs.

"I think I accomplished what I wanted to accomplish, other than getting my dog back," Gillespie said. "Obviously that was my most important thing, so that's really sad.

"I'm never going to see him again."