Owner of pet grooming service "truly sorry" after ex-employee kicks small dog

MIAMI - The owner of a pet grooming service says he is "truly sorry" after his former employee was seen on video kicking a small dog — an incident he says has led to backlash, including death threats.

"What he did ... was brutal," said Yosuany Rodriguez, the owner of Deluxe Mobile Grooming, the company displayed on the shirt of a man seen kicking a small Maltese-Shih Tzu mix.

The attack, caught on Ring video, triggered irate reactions on social media.

"I do not approve what he did," Rodriguez said. "I want him to be held accountable with justice and hopefully, he gets the justice that he deserves."

Rodriguez said he found out about the incident on Saturday morning, five days after the attack on the dog, when he saw two negative reviews online. A few minutes later he also received pictures taken from the surveillance video that went viral and recognized his employee.

"When I sent him that, I asked him, 'Is this what I think it is? Did you kick the dog?' And he said, 'yes.'"

Rodriguez said he fired the man "immediately."

Rodriguez said the dog was groomed by the employee the morning of Monday, Aug. 12, at 9 a.m. and that he doesn't understand why the person kicked the dog.

Rodriguez, who owns several dogs himself, said he has gotten many death threats over the incident.

"One sent me a picture of the house and said 'dead,' I'm going to kill you all!" he said.

He said he notified police and closed the company's website, as well as all of his social media accounts, because he was getting an avalanche of insults.