Family’s heartbreak as ‘healthy’ 14-month-old puppy dies while residing at puppy training camp

A devastated family is mourning the ‘unexpected’ loss of their 14-month-old puppy after his week-long stay at a dog training facility.

Sisters Christina and Celia Zazzarino from Sydney, owned a ‘completely healthy’ dog called Wiston (Winnie), but he started to ‘become a bit of a handful’.

The siblings decided to opt for professional training while the dog was still young, and so searched for a training facility online.

The facility is based in Sydney and has ‘good reviews,’ according to the sisters. They arranged for Winnie to stay at the camp for two weeks.

The family told A Current Affair that they took the pup to the vet the day before dropping him off to the facility and were told he was ‘completely healthy’. But just over a week later, he was dead.

Winnie was adored by his owners, but needed some training as he had become a ‘handful’

The sisters forked out $1,515 for Winnie’s two week stay at the facility.

All seemed to be going well until they received a distressing call on the fourth day of Winnie’s stay.

‘The lady said that Winston hadn’t been eating for four days,’ Celina said.

‘She was asking what he likes [to eat] and said they were going to go shopping to buy him that food.’

Concerns began to develop but ultimately the family believed they could trust the professionals looking after their dog.

The situation took a turn when an entire week went by and the family had not received an update from the facility on Winnie’s condition. Celina decided to send a text message to the head trainer asking for news.

Celina claims she received a reply from the trainer which read: ‘Winston is doing really well! Loving his time here. Still a bit of a fussy eater but eating better now.’

Winnie’s condition, however, took a turn for the worse that same day and the training facility called Celina said they were taking him to the vet.

Celina recalled: ‘They had told me that he was just dehydrated and had stomach pain, so he had been given medication and hydralytics.’

The training facility insists there has been no wrongdoing from their end while Winnie was in their care

Winnie was only 14 months old when he died and was described as a ‘completely healthy’ dog

The sisters then asked if they could pick Winnie up but again were told that the dog was doing fine.

They were sent pictures of their precious pup, along with a message reading that he ‘looks on the mend.’

A day later, however, the family received another update to say Winnie was not doing well after all.

Winnie never made it home, and the sisters had to say goodbye to him at the vet. When they saw him, they noticed he had lost weight.

Celina (pictured) and her sister Christina are devastated and are seeking answers behind the cause of Winnie’s death

Dr Rob Zammit confirmed that Winnie was ‘clearly very sick’ and should have been returned home immediately by the facility

Vet Dr Rob Zammit said Winnie was ‘clearly very sick’ and that the trainers should have picked it up sooner.

‘If a dog is sick, you should know that as a professional trainer. You should be able to assess whether the dog is healthy or not,’ Zammit said.

‘If a dog is not eating and losing weight like that, you ring the owners straight away and say, ‘come back, grab your dog, this is not working out’.’

In an attempt to seek more clarity over the incident, the Zazzarinos turned to social media. Their post on the training facility went viral, which resulted in the company refunding their money and offering to pay for Winnie’s vet care.

The head trainer sent a legal letter to A Current Affair to deny any wrongdoing, even insisting that the dog was presented in an ‘underweight’ state at the beginning of his stay.

Celina and Christina are currently awaiting autopsy results to pinpoint the exact cause of Winnie’s death in order to have complete closure over their loss.