Connecticut – A fitness influencer by the name of Mike Gerchy has been defending himself after a damning video of him beating his family dog was released. The video reveals more than just disturbing footage of Gerchy attacking his dog – it shows a disaster waiting to happen.
The video starts with two young girls who are hugging and slapping a large breed dog. Anyone who knows dogs will view the footage with discomfort…knowing that it is dangerous for kids to be hugging the dog and putting their face in his personal space. The dog in the midst of the unwanted attention gives a warning growl to the two girls.

Shortly after the black dog growls, the family’s other dog hops off the couch and walks to the girls and the black dog. The girls fling their arms around the dog that walked over and it sounds like they say, “thank you,” just before the white and black dog attacks the first dog who was being slapped.
The girls scurry away and Gerchy rushes to the room and starts beating the white and black dog who had hopped off the couch.

After the video caused a deluge of reaction on social media, Gerchy defended himself on Instagram.

For anyone who knows dogs, this entire situation looks like a recipe for disaster with young kids who do not respect their dogs’ space, dramatic, dangerous dog fights in the midst of children, and an owner who beats his dog after the dog fight starts, rather than managing the situation responsibly from the start.
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The Glastonbury Police Department has stated that they are investigating the situation.
Feel free to weigh in with your thoughts on this situation in the comment section below. Do you think this warrants charges? Or should these dogs be rehomed to someone more responsible?
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77 Comments
Take those dogs out of that house.No more dogs. He is at fault and is clueless. He has his hands full with the bratty kids.
He should be charged with endangerment to children, an animal abuse to the fullest degree. He should never be allowed to own another
He is the one that should be beat down within an inch of his life.
Remove these poor dogs from this home and give him n a la ge fine and a jail sentence with the stipulation he never owns another animal to be monitored by a lengthy probation and home visits. Animals need the be defended much more fiercely in courts!
The dogs need a better home! I don’t believe he spent $14,000 on Thor. That is a lie. Those dogs need to be taken from him!
The dogs need to be rehomed. Animal cruelty charges filed against the “influencer” and people need to make a statement by not following any more. Kids need to go to counseling and some community service at a local animal shelter to possibly help undue the disrespect and lack of empathy learned from their parent ‘the influencer’. There is a strong possibility that in the future they will repeat parents taught cruel behavior , but with intervention maybe not to late for them to learn to care and not abuse.
Totally agree. Well stated This family does not need any pets. The children aren’t respecting the pets and neither is their father. This is a recipe for disaster and it is the pets that suffer
💯💯💯💯💯
The attacking dog was protecting the misbehaving girls. He is the family hero & did not deserve to be attacked for doing so. Didn’t the owner watch the video!?! No one knows anything about dogs in that household. Poor dogs.
Control your kids dude. They have to learn to be receptive to signals dogs put out in terms of boundaries , space and excitability. Your kids don’t seem to know any of those things or they wouldn’t be slapping their dog, and this guy doesn’t seem to know either. At some point the police will have to be called if things get out of hand and someone gets seriously hurt and your dogs get taken away. This man and his kids are dummies.
The situation needs to seriously be addressed
the kids started this, why were they left alone with a big dog, they should never treat the dog like this. the dog gave them warnings. Take those dogs away and do not allow him or anyone in the family to live with dogs again unless they are educated and prove they know enough to not abuse dogs something “wrong”. Dogs deserve respect and to have boundaries. its not the dogs fault its the owners fault. but the dog has to suffer because of these idiots. charge him with cruelty .
If you’re going to have dogs around kids, you have to teach your kids how to be around them! 99% the adults fault! You could’ve saved yourself a lot of money by doing that! You should not own dogs if your kids are going pester and tease them, and then be surprised and punish the dogs when they react. DUH.
The only thing this “influencer’s” update clarifies is that he should not own animals. If he taught his daughters how to interact properly with his dogs, this whole situation could be avoided. Instead, he creates an untenable situation where one dog is abused by the daughters and the other is punished for trying to protect the abusers from the abused dog. The dogs should both be removed and rehomed, and he should be banned from owning any kind of animals.
THIS SITUATION HAS BEEN HANDLED IN A DISGUSTING WAY😤😤😤THE GIRLS SHOULD HAVE BEEN TAUGHT TO NOT ABUSE THE DOGS EVER🥵 IT IS ALWAYS THE INNOCENT DOG WHO PAYS THE PRICE FOR HAVING HORRIBLE OWNERS🤬THESE DOGS NEED TO BE REMOVED FROM THE HOME AND THEIR CRUEL KIDS NEED TO LEARN HOW TO TREAT ANIMALS !!!! THESE PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO OWN ANY ANIMALS EVER AGAIN😤😤😤🤬🤬🤬🥵
This man knows nothing about dogs and how they react to circumstances. Take those dogs away and do not allow him or anyone in the family to live with dogs again unless they are educated and prove they know enough to not abuse dogs simply because they are doing something “wrong”. Dogs deserve respect and to have boundaries and not be forced to submit simply because people want them to do or not something. This man is teaching his kids that dogs do not deserve respect and that violence against animals is acceptable. It isn’t.
The adult should have been supervising and the girls should NEVER be treating dogs that way. They are lucky the dogs didn’t attack the girls and only gave a warning growl! The dogs need to be removed from the home! People don’t act responsibly then when something happens they blame the dogs! Its never the dog always the human!
Denunciare l’adulto e poi educare le bambine a comportarsi con creature viventi che non sono giocattoli. Grazie
The owner who is supposed to be a responsible adult is 100% at fault!! No question! What is wrong with people then they go blame the dogs!