.png)
No injuries were reported but two dogs escaped during the incident and were later found and returned with their families.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — The owners of a doggie retreat in Montgomery County are happy that no one was hurt after a car crashed through their building earlier this month.
According to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Spokesman Pete Piringer, crews were called to the Sniffers Doggie Depot on Westmore Road around 4:30 p.m. on May 11 for reports of a car crashing into a building.
Video of the crash shared on the Sniffers Doggie Retreat Instagram page, shows a person coming through the door and speaking with staff just moments before a silver SUV crashed through the front windows, moves through the lobby before crashing through another wall and coming to a stop in the kennel area.
No injuries were reported but two dogs escaped during the incident and were later found and returned with their families.
“It's really incredible," said Hillary Stains, co-owner of Sniffers Doggie Retreat regarding the fact that no staff members or animals were hurt. "We can rebuild the building at any time but we can never replace a dog.”
Stains explained that two employees were behind the desk in the lobby area with a client waiting to pick up their dog when the crash happened. A third employee was in the kennel area and didn't even see it coming until the wall came down.
Stains had just gotten home from work when she received a phone call from an employee saying a car had crashed into the building and she needed to come back. It wasn't until she saw the damage that she realized the extent of what happened.
The person behind the wheel was another doggie retreat client who had come to pick up their dog, according to Stains. She says she doesn't know why the car came barreling through the building but is thankful no one was hurt.
"Really a miracle," she said.
Two dogs were able to escape during the crash and Stains said finding those dogs was their top priority. The first dog was located safely that night around 8 p.m. Employees volunteered their time to help find the second dog.
Staff searched for days, but in the end, the dog returned on its own. On Saturday, two days after the crash, the dog was found waiting for an employee who arrived to open the business around 6 a.m. When the staff member opened the business, the dog simply walked inside.
With no injuries reported and the two lost dogs found, Sniffers moves toward fixing the damages. Stains said there is no word on an estimate of how much damage was caused but is working with insurance to get it all sorted out.
English (US) ·