Houston, Texas - The woman who was caught on video dragging
her puppy on a leash in northwest Houston offered an apology for her actions
Tuesday.
The woman was seen by a neighbor on Broadleaf Drive.
"I saw here pulling on something, yanking on
something," said the neighbor who did not want to be identified.
Tuesday, ABC-13 was able to identify and speak with the
woman in the video. Her name is Tara. She would not state her last name. Her
seven-week-old pit bull puppy is named Cookie.
"She's (puppy) learning how to walk on a leash,"
said Tara. "I wasn't trying to you know like pull her and choke her. It's
not like she was hanging, you know what I mean?"
At times in the video, you can see the puppy being flung
into the air and thrust forward before falling on the concrete or grass.
"It got me upset, because I'm a pet owner
myself," one neighbor said.
At one point, the woman was seen picking up the pup. She
walked with it in her arms, and then after a car drove by, she threw the puppy
into the grass and started yanking it again by the neck.
"She started to pee on me, and it like scared me at
the same time," said Tara who admitted it wasn't the best time to leash
train her dog. "Obviously she's too little right now. She did not want to
do it. She's not ready to do it."
Tara offered to show us her home where Cookie lives. There
was a small soft bed with a chew toy and a cage where Cookie sleeps at night.
Eyewitness News was able to make contact with the puppy. Cookie seemed to be
unharmed and OK.
In the meantime, the man who shot the video said he's filed
a report with the Houston SPCA.
No charges have been filed against Tara.
