Former Your Dog's Best Friends groomer found guilty of felony animal abuse in dog's death
Kevin Sanders faces up to 5 years in prison after pleading guilty to felony charge; judge convicts on 4 misdemeanors
This story contains descriptions of animal abuse that some readers may find disturbing.
A former groomer at an Alexandria animal boarding and grooming facility was found guilty this week on felony and misdemeanor animal abuse charges stemming from incidents that included the death of a dog, the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria announced Wednesday.
Kevin Sanders pleaded guilty Monday to a felony cruelty charge related to the death of a dog named Abigail on July 12, 2024, while he was employed at Your Dog’s Best Friends, located at 2000 Richmond Highway, Alexandria, VA 22301, according to the league. On Wednesday, a judge found Sanders guilty on four Class 1 misdemeanor charges involving abuse of other dogs at the facility, based on seized video evidence.
Sanders had remained an employee at the facility after Abigail’s death and was still working there at the time of his arrest on July 21, 2025, according to the league.
For the Class 6 felony conviction, Sanders faces up to five years in prison, $2,500 in fines, and a lifetime ban on owning animals under Virginia law. Each of the four misdemeanor charges carries a penalty of up to 12 months in jail and $2,500 in fines. Sentencing is expected in the coming weeks.
What the video showed
According to a statement of facts filed by the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office in Alexandria Circuit Court in July 2025, Sanders “became frustrated with Abigail as he was grooming her. He began to forcefully shove her, while holding her in a manner that caused the grooming tool around her neck to choke her.”
“At one point during the attack, the defendant placed Abigail in a headlock position, choking her with his left arm,” the document states. “After repeating this behavior, and visibly causing Abigail severe distress, he allowed her to choke herself to death with the grooming tool that the defendant wrapped around her neck.”
Abigail, a 3-year-old golden retriever, “was in good health” when she was left in Sanders’ care, according to the statement of facts, which cited her owners.
Animal Control Officer Anthony Rankin met with the supervising veterinarian for the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria to review the July 12, 2024, video, according to the statement of facts. “Upon watching the surveillance video of the defendant engaging with Abigail on July 12, 2024, the veterinarian came to the conclusion that the golden retriever was substantially mistreated by the defendant, and that this mistreatment ultimately led to the animal’s death,” the document states.
A search warrant affidavit filed by Rankin on Jan. 23, 2025, stated that while reviewing video from July 12, 2024, he observed “a dog named Abigail perished from the mistreatment. Specifically, the dog was strangled by the leash designed to hold the animal in place on a grooming table.”
What the owners were told
Abigail’s owners were not told what the video showed, according to the Commonwealth.
At Sanders’ bond hearing in July 2025, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Ashtyn McDaniel told the court: “This animal that died, the pet owners were told that their dog had a heart attack. They were not told that their dog was strangled. They were not told that their dog was abused. They didn’t know and they trusted these people.”
Abigail’s owners never filed a complaint because the events that led to the dog’s death were not disclosed by the facility, the Animal Welfare League said.
Facility owner’s account
In a public statement posted to Facebook on July 22, 2025 — the day after Sanders’ arrest — Your Dog’s Best Friends owner Paul Haire offered a different account of Abigail’s death. Haire said a veterinarian who examined the dog determined she had died of a heart attack caused by a congenital heart defect, dilated cardiomyopathy, which the vet described as “a ticking time bomb.” Haire said the vet was specifically asked whether there was any sign of trauma or asphyxiation and “indicated without hesitation that there was not.”
Haire acknowledged that Sanders had “struggled to control the dog” before the heart attack and “failed to follow our protocol of taking a dog off the table when this occurs.” Haire said that struggle “may have caused the dog enough stress to pull the pin on the ticking time bomb.”
Haire said Sanders was removed from grooming after the incident and underwent months of retraining before being allowed to resume limited duties as a bather. Haire said the facility had not seen or received reports of any injury or customer complaint regarding Sanders’ treatment of dogs before or after the incident.
Regarding the four misdemeanor charges, Haire said the day of Sanders’ arrest was “the first and only time we have been made aware of any additional alleged incidents” and that the facility had not been given video evidence of those incidents.
Sanders subsequently pleaded guilty to the felony charge and was found guilty on all four misdemeanor counts.
Other incidents
The four misdemeanor charges stemmed from incidents on Oct. 21, Oct. 28, Dec. 18 and Dec. 31, 2024, according to the statement of facts.
On Oct. 21, Sanders “grabbed the dog by its neck and slammed the dog into the wall and various other objects in the grooming facility, as he dragged the dog across the floor,” the document states. “When the dog fell to the ground, the Defendant became frustrated because he tripped over the dog. After he tripped over the dog, he picked it up and threw it aggressively into a nearby crate.”
On Oct. 28, Sanders “used the grooming tool in a manner that purposely choked the dog” and “grabbed the dog by its face and forcefully pushed it,” according to the statement of facts. When the dog fell off the grooming table, “he allowed it to hang by the grooming tool, causing the tool to choke the dog as it dangled in the air. The defendant then forcefully pulled the dog using the grooming tool, dragging it by its neck.”
On Dec. 18, Sanders “aimed the nozzle of the blow dryer directly in the dog’s face. The dog became distressed and visibly struggled to breathe,” the document states. He then “grabbed the dog by its neck, and proceeded to forcefully push the dog, and engaged in the same repeated behavior of taunting the dog with the blow dryer.”
On Dec. 31, a dog “begins to become distressed, and the Defendant grabs the dog aggressively by its neck and begins to yell and point in its face. The Defendant pushed the animal forcefully, multiple times,” according to the statement of facts.
Sanders expressed no remorse
Sanders “has made statements to law enforcement about these incidents,” according to the statement of facts. “The Defendant is not remorseful for these events, and feels that he was justified in his actions, specifically when he was grooming Abigail on July 12, 2024.”
Sanders has three prior misdemeanor convictions: petit larceny in 2014, obstruction of justice in 2016 and trespass in 2018, according to court records cited in the Commonwealth’s statement of facts.
Anonymous tip alleged management allowed abuse
The case began Dec. 13, 2024, when an anonymous complaint was delivered to the Vola Lawson Animal Shelter, the facility operated by the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria, according to the search warrant affidavit.
The complaint included a typed letter and a USB drive containing video evidence. The letter “stated that animals were being abused at this pet boarding, bathing, and grooming location” and that “management was allowing the abuse to continue,” according to the affidavit. The letter identified an employee named Kevin as being responsible for abuse on at least some of the dates shown in the videos.
Timeline questions
In his July 22, 2025, Facebook statement, Haire said that day was “the first and only time we have been made aware of any additional alleged incidents” beyond Abigail’s death, and that the facility had not been given video evidence of the four incidents underlying the misdemeanor charges.
However, the search warrant seeking video evidence of animal cruelty at the facility was served on Jan. 24, 2025 — six months before Haire’s statement, according to court records. The warrant authorized officers to seize “all video surveillance system videos, interior and exterior, starting July 12, 2024, through the present date” as well as employee records and client records for dogs that died or were injured at the facility.
Investigation
With support from the Alexandria Police Department, the league’s animal services team executed the search warrant on Jan. 24, 2025, resulting in the seizure of more than 640 video files totaling over 600 hours of footage — the equivalent of 31 full days of video review, the league said in a statement.
During the trial, the league’s senior manager of behavior and training provided expert testimony identifying signs of animal fear and distress visible in the videos, according to the league. The league said his testimony played a critical role in helping the court understand the severity of the abuse.
A grand jury certified the charges, and Sanders was arrested July 21, 2025, according to the league.
The December 2024 complaint was the second filed against Your Dog’s Best Friends with the league. A prior complaint on Dec. 3, 2021, concerned a dog that became ill after being boarded at the facility, according to a league statement issued at the time of Sanders’ arrest. In that case, animal services found insufficient evidence that the illness was a direct result of the facility’s care. That complaint did not involve Sanders.
Animal grooming facilities in Virginia are not subject to annual inspections by a state agency and are instead only subject to inspection if a complaint is filed, the league noted.
“We are immensely thankful that justice has been served,” the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria said in a statement Wednesday. “While no legal outcome can undo the harm done or the heartbreak experienced by the families of the affected animals, this guilty plea represents an important step toward accountability for all parties involved.”
The league commended the anonymous former employee for coming forward and encouraged animal owners to research boarding, grooming and sitting services before selecting a provider.
Your Dog’s Best Friends and Haire did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This story was updated at 5:50 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, to include information from court documents filed in Alexandria Circuit Court: a search warrant affidavit, the Commonwealth’s statement of facts and a bond hearing transcript. The update added the prosecution’s detailed account of each incident based on video evidence; the Animal Welfare League veterinarian’s conclusion that mistreatment led to Abigail’s death; the Commonwealth’s statement to the court that Abigail’s owners were told she had a heart attack rather than that she was strangled; Sanders’ statements to law enforcement that he felt justified in his actions; his prior criminal record; the anonymous tipster’s allegation that management allowed abuse to continue; and a timeline discrepancy between when the search warrant was served at the business and the owner’s later public statement about when he learned of additional incidents.