This is Dixie or should I say this was Dixie. Dixie belonged to the alternative rock group My Chemical Romance’s drummer, Bob Bryar. Whether you are a fan of this group or not, what happened to Dixie is inexplainable to me.
Mr. Bryar rescued Dixie from a shelter. She had been abused and still had some issues. Make no mistake, Mr. Bryar loved this dog and wrote about his constant companion constantly.
On a recommendation from a friend, he paid self-proclaimed “dog trainer to the stars”, Daniel Schaffer, $7500 to help to train her because of “her intense emotionally fragile state” and help her to adjust to a new dog in Bryar’s home.
This type of training involves leaving your pet with the trainer for a certain amount of time- weeks, I’m assuming, to teach your dog obedience. During the first week, Bryar received a phone call saying Dixie was having a great time.
A week later Bryar received a phone call from Schaffer telling him Dixie had been killed when he (Schaffer) was hit by a drunk driver while transporting Dixie and other dogs in his vehicle. One problem- there was no police report of any such incident.
When confronted with this information, Schaffer changed his story and said Dixie died in her sleep and changed the story again saying she died under unusual circumstances.
To top of all of this, Schaffer claims he had Dixie’s remains cremated because of her condition from the car accident. Bryar never saw his dog again.
Schaffer is now being sued by Bryar for breach of contract, fraud, negligence and intentional infliction of emtional distress.
I guess I want to know why, first of all, someone would send their pet away to be trained. I thought an important component of dog training is for the pet and its owner to be trained together. I thought it was just as important for the owner to understand the training as well as the dog. Yes, I know people send their pets away but never quite understood that reasoning. I certainly would want to be with my pet at all times. Then again, I hate leaving my dogs at a kennel while on vacation and so I don’t.
Obviously this “trainer” is lying and had tried to cover his tracks. What happened that caused him to have Dixie cremated? That was not in his place to do that. Bryar recieved an urn full of ashes – but do they belong to his Dixie? How does one try to find out? It is not unheard of crematories to mix other pets when cremating animals. It has been reported that people didn’t even receive their own pets’ ashes back. Are they truly Dixie’s ashes?
What is Schaffer hiding?
Have or would you take your dog to a dog trainer where you leave your dog for weeks, possibly? I don’t see it. And what types of training are employed while you are not able to supervise?
I feel truly bad for Bryar. I would be devastated as he is. He is quoted as saying ” The devastation I feel is beyond words. I don’t even know what happened to my best friend and miss her more than anything in the world.”