A dog trainer in Alabama’s Chilton County received a year-long prison sentence but will only serve 180 days behind bars following an animal cruelty conviction. Cupid Seymour’s guilty verdict on the charge stemmed from the death of a Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Chloe. The puppy reportedly died at his training facility, Cupid’s Dog House, in October 2024 after spending three weeks there. The next month, authorities arrested Seymour after a necropsy uncovered that Chloe had lost excessive amounts of weight under his care, as per ABC 3340.
Chilton County dog trainer will serve 3-month prison sentence after being found guilty of animal cruelty
Dog trainer Cupid Seymour will serve three months of a 365-day prison sentence resulting from his animal cruelty conviction. He will then remain under unsupervised probation for the rest of the term and receive credit for time already served since his arrest last November. In addition to that, Seymour will have to pay $3,500 in restitution, a $1,000 fine, and court costs. The case gained massive online traction after a 4-month-old puppy under his care at Cupid’s Dog House died, eventually resulting in his arrest and a guilty verdict.
WVTM-13 reported that Chloe, a Chesapeake Bay Retriever, died at his training facility under suspicious circumstances in October. The puppy’s dog mom, Karen Black, got a call from the trainer on October 19, when he informed her of the unfortunate news. To Black, something seemed off about Chloe’s death, and she had her veterinarian perform a necropsy. The results revealed that the dog had lost a significant amount — one-third — of body weight after three weeks at Seymour’s facility under his care. In addition, she showed possible signs of anorexia.
However, the dog trainer, who soon faced an animal cruelty charge, claimed that Chloe had been healthy and happy in the time leading up to her death. In fact, Seymour sent Black videos showing the same, but she decided to press charges, prompting the subsequent legal case. Later on, attorneys for the training facility contradicted the weight loss claim, alleging that the deceased dog had consumed 35 pounds of food during her stint there.
Besides the fine, restitution, and prison time, Seymour must finish 50 hours of community service with the Humane Society.
