Veteran Winchester Dog Trainer Charged with Animal Cruelty: Abusive, Excessive Techniques Alleged

WINCHESTER, CA - A longtime dog trainer from Winchester who specializes in turning canines into comfort and service dogs for people with Alzheimer's, post-traumatic stress and other disorders is facing animal cruelty charges, which he said Thursday come as a shock to him.

"They came out here but didn't do anything," Robert E. Taylor, owner of Dog Wish Service Dogs, told City News Service. "This does come as a surprise to me. They never responded to anything that I communicated."

Taylor, whose conversation with CNS was cut short by his wife, said he was not aware that he'd been charged with five felony counts of animal cruelty until Thursday's phone call. The criminal complaint was filed Wednesday, according to court records. No arraignment date has been set, and it was unclear when Taylor would be formally arrested.

According to the Department of Animal Services, an investigation was initiated in October after several individuals who work for the 66-year-old defendant complained that he was mistreating prospective service dogs.

Animal services obtained videotape allegedly showing Taylor overzealously using choke chains and kicking dogs that didn't respond to his orders.

"Upon viewing the videos, I immediately recognized Mr. Bob Taylor from past contact with him," Department of Animal Services Sgt. Lesley Huennekens stated in a request for charges submitted to the D.A.'s office in December. "I saw Mr. Taylor repeatedly kicking and choking dogs during what appeared to be training sessions. The video shows Mr. Taylor tie each of the dogs to a post with a leash with what appeared to be a choke chain and held another leash with a choke chain in his hands."

Huennekens said that, in the videos, when Taylor gave commands to "sit" or get "down," and the dogs didn't comply, "he would pull on the leash, causing the dogs to choke."

"Mr. Taylor was also videotaped kicking the dogs in their rib cages and hip area," she wrote. "One of the dogs was choked and kicked 17 times. The dogs would scream and thrash on the ground from pain and fear."

Despite the disturbing images, Huennekens acknowledged that when she and other animal control officers served a search warrant at the Wildomar property, the canine facilities appeared to be well-maintained, and none of the dogs that officers encountered gave indications of abuse or neglect.

However, the video evidence was compelling, and the Department of Animal Services relied on that in seeking prosecution, according to agency spokesman John Welsh.

"There are proper ways to train dogs," Huennekens said. "We do not believe his methods would be viewed by any reasonable trainer as suitable."

According to the Dog Wish Service Dogs websites -- www.dogwish.org and http://dogwishservicedogs.com -- Taylor has been training canines for nearly 40 years. He incorporated Dog Wish Service Dogs in 2000 and has since won several "national championship titles," according to the sites.

"Our dog training has and is designed completely as a response to the critical and demanding needs of our clients," dogwishservicdogs.com states. "The methods we use are administered in a sensitive, but competent manner, individually, with each dog we train."

"We have created a strategic and comprehensive breeding, whelping, raising and training program, using a breed of dog we have created specifically designed to handle our client needs in a far superior way," according to the site.

The service dogs trained by Taylor have been paired with individuals diagnosed with general anxiety, bipolarism, autism, Asperger's syndrome, Down syndrome, as well as patients who suffer from a variety of other neurological impairments, according to the site.

— By City News Service / Image via Shutterstock