Animal Trainer Jeffery Loy Convicted of Animal Cruelty in NJ
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

New York Bird Club
July 2010

During the length of the two-year investigation, the NJSPCA had promised that any animal owner who had previously hired Jeffery Loy between 2005 and 2010, and considered that they had been victimized, and their animal injured as a result of Jeffery Loy inflicting his own style of animal training and behavioral correction, would receive their day in court.

The New Jersey State SPCA Humane Police recently announced the animal cruelty conviction of Jeffery Loy, founder of the Center for Animal Behavioral Research located in Chester. The combined Title 4 conviction for “overloading” and “cause or procure, by any direct or indirect means, any such act to be done” was the result of a two-year investigation.

The animal cruelty investigation commenced after receiving a complaint in 2007 from Clark, NJ (Union County) dog owners that Jeffery Loy, who they hired to correct the behavior of their six pound Shih Tzu, named Palm Beach Moby, had inflicted unnecessary cruelty upon their dog through the use of a choker collar, by beating it with an 18 inch PVC pipe, slamming the dog to the floor, and striking the dog with his bare hands and fist, breaking the dog’s rib, while also causing profuse internal and external bleeding, a bruised liver, a bruised bladder and ruptured blood vessels in the dog’s eyes, all requiring immediate emergency veterinary care and extensive veterinary follow up.

The NJSPCA investigation revealed that Jeffrey Loy had responded to the owner’s Clark home and, during a two hour introduction, had discussed his animal behavioral program over a period of 2 hours at a cost of $1,000 per session, also involving a contract for multiple $1,000 training sessions containing a hold harmless clause and a non-disclosure agreement requiring acceptance and signature.

During the initial session, it was reported that once the contract was executed, Loy had commented that he would become Moby’s “worst nightmare.” Loy then baited Moby to bite him "to determine what type of biting Moby was doing". After Moby had bitten Loy, the “treatment” of the dog commenced by inflicting pain on the dog, delivering a fierce and vicious beating using an 18 inch PVC pipe, his bare hands, and closed fists. The owners watched in horror and were then “allowed” to interact with the dog during a break in the correctional treatment, before the second treatment session began.

During the second phase of the session, Loy again baited Moby to bite him and once again, Loy inflicted pain on the dog with a vicious beating. The second beating was described as being more intense as Loy again used his hands, fists and the 18 inch PVC pipe again, striking Moby, the six pound dog on its entire body and used his closed fist to deliver a directed strike to the dog in its chest, and again slamming the small dog to the floor. After Loy’s second "behavioral training" phase of the session had ended, the dog’s owners observed fecal matter, urine and blood all over their apartment’s kitchen and dining room, and guessed that the second intense beating had lasted for about 5 minutes. Loy also had a cattle prod in his possession as a training aid, but it was not used on Moby. Loy had inflicted the beatings on the small dog as his form of a behavioral training procedure, and as per the terms of the $1,000 per session contract agreement, to stop Moby from his bark!
ing and biting behaviors.

As a result of the first full, two-part training session, Moby was urinating blood, cowering in fear, and having trouble breathing, and was taken to the Central Jersey Veterinary Emergency Clinic, by his owners, where the dog was examined and found to have sustained a bruised liver, a bruised bladder, a broken rib on the right side of its chest and ruptured blood vessels in its eyes.

Jeffrey Loy continued to contact Moby’s owners in an attempt to schedule additional treatments and continue the correctional training and behavioral modification of the six-pound dog. When the dog owners failed to return his calls, Loy contacted them threatening to have Moby removed from the household as a vicious animal. When that action was not successful and the owners did not continue the treatments, Loy threatened to have Palm Beach Moby killed.

The professionally transcribed contents of the harassing and threatening telephone messages from Jeffery Loy included the following: “I’m sorry for the mishap here and we’ll make good on whatever here and my hand is very hurt today, swollen, so we both took a licking here”; “I have a chipped bone in my thumb and a ligament problem in my hand, so nobody comes out unscathed here”; “I am just a simple research man with no cash resources here so I understand you stopping payment on the check.”

An additional message was left for the dog owners:

“This is Jeff Loy from Animal Behavioral Research. You haven’t returned my calls yet. I am waiting to hear from you regarding the status of your situation with Moby. I want to see if you are following procedures and that’s about it. If you do not call me, or you do anything to slander me in any way, I will come after you. Keep in mind, I will not only come after you to make your life miserable; I will come after your dog because we have a dog bite law in New Jersey, the first of its kind and I sat on all the boards that review dogs and your dog doesn’t even come close to being potentially dangerous. It is categorized as vicious and they will put your dog to death. I don’t want to see you put your dog to death. We will work together at this. I can help you. So if you truly care about your dog, put your emotions aside for a moment. I’d be delighted to help you in any way I can. And I’ve also sought professional help. The proper authorities have already been contacted. They are waiting in the wings. I will not act until I hear from you.”

As a result of the investigation, Jeffery Loy was formally charged with two sets of six criminal and civil NJSA Title 4 animal cruelty violations in 2008 by the New Jersey State SPCA Humane Police.

This investigation involved the assistance of hundreds of industry professionals such as Dr. Randall Lockwood of the ASPCA, the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, the American Humane Association, the Delta Society, Dr. Karen Overall, a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Behavior, Dr. Suzanne Hetts, representing Animal Behavior Associates, Dr. Walter F. Burghardt Jr. of the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Robert H. Brandeau of Canine Companions, Drayton Michaels, the “Pit Bull Guru”, certified animal behaviorists, dog and animal trainers, and expert witnesses including Pia Silvani of Saint Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center and Dr. Ernest Rogers of the Maplewood Animal Hospital, as well as the truly commendable expertise and guidance of Clark Municipal Prosecutor Jon-Henry Barr.

After numerous attempts to adjudicate the case of State v Jeffery Loy, a court trial was held on May 4, 2010 and Jeffery Loy was convicted of NJSA Title 4 animal cruelty violations against the six-pound Shih Tzu. The combined animal cruelty conviction, for “Overloading” and “Cause or Procure by Any Direct or Indirect Means, Any Such Act to be Done,” was accompanied by fines and monetary restitution.

During the length of the two-year investigation, the NJSPCA had promised that any animal owner who had previously hired Jeffery Loy between 2005 and 2010, and considered that they had been victimized, and their animal injured as a result of Jeffery Loy inflicting his own style of animal training and behavioral correction, would receive their day in court.

In June 2010, additional charges for animal cruelty and weapons laws were lodged against Jeffery Loy in Mendham, New Jersey Municipal Court as a result of his cruel and abusive actions against a dog in Mendham in June of 2005, and its owner coming forward to report the crime.

Additional charges are also pending adjudication in Essex County Superior Court for Title 4 animal cruelty charges and violations of New Jersey’s illegal weapons statutes. It is hoped that other victimized animal owners will come forth within the statute of limitations period for case adjudication, and justice for their victimized animals.

It is also hoped that the conviction of Jeffery Loy for violations of New Jersey’s animal cruelty statutes will result in the creation of new policies, procedures and regulations, in the unregulated industries of animal training and animal behavioral training, so that these types of abuses against animals and acts of animal cruelty, for which Loy was charged and convicted, can be prevented, with the needless cruelty and victimization of animals being brought to a halt, and statute violators punished for animal abuse.

The New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NJSPCA) was created in 1868 and is the second oldest SPCA in the country. Its agents were established as Law Enforcement Officers in charge of investigating and prosecuting all persons involved in animal abuse and neglect. The mission today is the same. Through the tireless efforts of highly trained and professional law enforcement personnel, the NJSPCA is making a difference...one animal at a time. In addition, educating the public about responsible pet ownership is only a part of the overall mission. The NJSPCA is funded solely by donations, grants, bequests and fines levied against convicted animal abusers. The NJSPCA receives no government funding or monies from citizen tax dollars. Please help us in our quest to end the needless suffering of animals as the NJSPCA relies on charitable generosity for its very existence.


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