There has been a strong reaction to Baylor Football player Ishmael Zamora’s video of him abusing his dog.
Zamora initially received criminal punishment from the city of Waco with a $500 fine and a citation. Baylor University’s football program announced Tuesday, just ahead of their first game, his punishment.
While he will be out for three games, several people don’t think that’s enough.
Sandy Witliff, President of Angel Paws, has been working with dogs for over thirty years now. In her experience, she has worked abused animals.
"I have no patience with it because there are so many people out there who want to help so you don't have to do that. It is an old way of thinking," Witliff said.
Her experience with abused animals is first hand. Yetti, a therapy dog, still shows signs of trauma from abuse years later.
"Whatever happened to him as a puppy, lasted he still throws up all over the place,” Witliff said.
News Channel 25 talked to dog owners from the Waco dog park and Dogtopia - none of the dog owners felt the punishment was adequate.
Tabatha, who owns a 9-year-old rescue, knows the frustration of training an out of control animal. When she first rescued Buddy, he destroyed the house eating her shoes, furniture, and even putting a hole into the wall.
Even through the frustration, she never laid an animal on the dog. She was shocked when she saw the video of Zamora.
"I cried. I sat there and cried. You don't treat an animal that way no matter how frustrated you are. You don't take that out on the animal, by the time you get home and punish them for it they don't know what they are being punished for. They are like a child they don't know what they did wrong," Tabatha said.
Witliff says the most important thing to remember when training animals is to be patient.
"Dogs speak dog they don't speak human so we need to learn a little bit of dog and they need to learn a little bit of human,” she said.
Witliff offers her expertise with dogs through a training course called K9mutt Training.
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