A popular YouTuber is reportedly being investigated by local law enforcement officials after viewers said she hit her pet dog in a prank video.
BuzzFeed News reported that Brook Houts uploaded a video in which she appears to hit, shove and spit on her dog. Some of Houts' 333,000 subscribers think she mistakenly uploaded an incomplete, unedited version of the video, which included the disturbing footage, according to BuzzFeed News.
She then uploaded another version that did not include those clips. The video has since been removed., but footage from the initial upload made its way across Twitter and was posted repeatedly. Officials at the Los Angeles police department's Animal Cruelty Task Force took notice.
"LAPD is aware of this incident. Animal Cruelty is looking into this, and there is an open investigation," a representative for the Police Department told BuzzFeed News.
In the fallout, Houts posted a lengthy statement on Twitter addressing criticism and concern. She denied spitting on her dog, but said she did not choose the appropriate method of stopping her 75-pound Doberman from jumping on her.
"First off, I want to address the uncut footage. On the day in particular that the video was filmed, and actually this past week, things in my outside life have been less than exceptional. I am not going to play the 'victim card; or anything of that sort, but I do want to point out that I am rarely as upset as what was shown in the footage," she said, adding that she is playing up her real-life bubbly personality on camera and she was frustrated in the video.
"That being said, this does NOT justify me yelling at my dog in the way that I did, and I’m fully aware of that," she said in the statement. "Should I have gotten as angry as I did in the video? No. Should I have raised my voice and yelled at him? No. However, when my 75 lb. Doberman is jumping up in my face with his mouth open, I do, as a dog parent, have to show him that this behavior is unacceptable. But I want to make it known, REGARDLESS of what my dog does, I should not have acted that way towards him."
"I want to clarify that I am NOT a dog abuser or animal abuser in any way, shape, or form. Anyone who has witnessed or heard true animal abuse will be able to clearly see that. My dog, in no way, shape, or form was hurt by any action that I displayed in this video. I know people are going to say 'you don’t know how he really feels' and this is true. But if he was audibly and physically in pain, it would be a different story."
Houts denied spitting on her dog but admitted she did "get in his face and take unnecessary actions towards him."
Houts added that she and her family are in the process of getting him professional one-on-one training, but it's expensive.
Read her full response to the incident below.
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