PALMDALE, Calif. – A woman was very concerned after she saw a man exercising his two large dogs by running them alongside his moving car on a rural road in California.
Desiree Durst saw the man on Saturday running the dogs in Palmdale and jumped in the car with her mother and son to record the scene out of concern for the dogs’ wellbeing, she told KTLA.
The man can be seen in his car with the two dogs, which appear to be German shepherds, outside the vehicle — one on a leash extended from his car window, the other running freely.
At one point he gets out to put the dogs inside before putting them out again. He then drives away, leaving both hounds behind for a time.
The driver has not been publicly identified, but Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials say they are investigating the incident.
Durst was concerned the pets could have been run over by their owner’s car and said a number of alarming scenes played out before her mother began recording, particularly one point when she saw the dog on the leash was being dragged close to one of the vehicle’s tires.
“I saw him escalating in speed and the male dog was pretty close to being able to keep up, but the female dog just wasn’t able to,” she told KTLA. “She started tripping over her feet and then she just started rolling on the ground, and several times she almost went underneath the tire. I was kind of panicking because I was like, He’s going to kill his dog.”
Durst said the driver avoided her family, then seemed angered when she confronted him about his behavior.
“I was honking my horn the entire time trying to get his attention,” she said. “I had to drive and actually pull up beside him and tell him, ‘Sir, you’re dragging your dog, your dog’s not able to keep up.’ At that point, he began to be really aggressive.”
The man eventually got into the car with both dogs and drove off, but Durst claims he cussed her family out before doing so.
“He was belligerent,” Durst’s mother, Carrie Mulalley, said. “‘I know what I’m doing, mind your own business.’”
L.A. County sheriff’s investigators were not available Sunday to comment on the details of the case, and no further information was available.
