1 year after 10 dogs died in District Dogs flood, families left with unanswered questions

WASHINGTON ( DC News Now ) — Wednesday marks one year since a deadly flooding that killed 10 dogs at District Dogs, a doggy day care, in Northeast D.C.

After a year, the owners of those dogs are still left with more questions than answers as to what happened inside the now-vacant building on Rhode Island Avenue.

Eight out of the 10 families who lost dogs have a lawsuit against District Dogs and its founder, Jacob Hensley.

“There’s just a lot of question marks around where Mona was that day, where she was placed, where she was found,” Jocelyn Lobos-Segura said.

Mona was Lobos-Segura’s dog.

“There really is no day that I don’t think about that day,” Lobos-Segura said. “I drive by there all the time knowing that, that was where Mona was last at.”

Lobos-Segura said the doggy day care’s founder, Hensley, still hasn’t talked to her and the other families about what happened.

“It’s always just those generic answers, which of course doesn’t bring any sort of closure for me,” Lobos-Segura said.

A spokesperson with District Dogs provided this statement to DC News Now.

“Aug. 14th will forever be a day of profound sadness and solemn remembrance for the District Dogs family. Last August’s unprecedented storm, and accompanying flood, changed so many lives that day, especially for the families who lost their beloved dogs and our staff members who heroically risked their lives to rescue as many dogs as they could.

There are no words to convey our sorrow for the families still grieving from the loss of their dogs. We remain eternally grateful to our dedicated staff and loyal customers for their support in the immediate aftermath of the flood and throughout the past year. We are committed to healing these wounds and building deep and lasting ties with the communities we serve.”

District Dogs spokesperson

She’s not a part of the lawsuit but eight other families are signed onto it.

“For the lawsuit, we are hoping to bring awareness to other families, hold District Dogs and Jacob Hensley accountable for their inactions that led to that day, and work towards legislation change to bring better safeguards to daycares and boarding facilities for our furry family members,” Paul Bunomo said. “I will reiterate that District Dogs and Jacob Hensley continues to operate exactly how they did. They treat their employees with hostility and pressure to suppress information.”

Buonomo and his wife lost their dog, Pepper, in the flood.

“For Nicole [Buonomo’s wife] and I, the last year has been very difficult. Pepper was a part of our family and our whole family knew her and loved her. She was in our wedding, so there’s even hesitation looking at photos and memories of one of the days that was supposed to be our happiest. We think about her every day,” Buonomo said.

The families impacted have a support network that has helped them through an extremely stressful situation, Buonomo said.

Lobos-Segura said she’s doing things to honor her dog, Mona. She adopted two dogs in the past year and regularly donates to the Humane Society in Pennsylvania.

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