The dog walker charged in the 2014 deaths of six Ladner dogs, including her own, was sentenced to six months in jail in Surrey provincial court Wednesday.
Judge James Jardine also issued Emma Paulsen a 10-year ban on owning an animal and a lifetime ban from operating a business that cares for other people's animals. As well, she will be subject to two years probation following her jail sentence.
Some of the dog owners and their supporters applauded as they watched Paulsen being led from the courtroom in handcuffs.
Outside the courthouse, Jennifer Meyer, whose dog Buddy, a Boston terrier, was one of the dogs that perished in the back of Paulsen's truck, said she was relieved yet surprised by the verdict, adding animal cruelty cases rarely result in a jail sentence.
"This is a huge step in the right direction," she said.
"That's a sentence worth taking note," said Paul Grant, who lost Oscar, a Rottweiler-husky mix. "I can't say I'm happy... It's a step forward. We get that little bit of closure."
Grant said the families that lost their dogs that day will continue to struggle with the loss of their beloved pets.
"My wife and I don't have children; Oscar was our boy."
Paulsen, 38, pleaded guilty to charges of public mischief for making a false police report and causing an animal to continue to be in distress under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act after leaving six dogs to die in the back of her truck last spring.
On May 13, Paulsen claimed she had driven the dogs from Delta to Langley to let them play at a dog park. She told police, the dog owners, reporters and privately hired pet investigators that she had gone to the washroom for 10 to 15 minutes and when she returned, the back canopy of her pickup was open and the dogs were missing.
She admitted less than a week later the entire tale was a fabrication and the dogs had died after she left in the back of her truck while she shopped at Costco in Richmond. She told police she had parked the truck in the shade and was in the store for about 40 minutes, longer than she had intended.
When she returned to the truck, the dogs were dead.
She panicked, drove out to Abbotsford and looked for somewhere to dispose of them. She dumped them all in a ditch without covering them.
Autopsies found the dogs to have pulmonary congestion and reddened skin, consistent with death from heat stroke.
The defence told the court Paulsen was in a bad emotional state and abusing alcohol at the time, but had not been drinking that day. The Crown pointed out that Paulsen had left dogs in the back of her truck in the past while she had gone shopping or to see her horse, and had been warned by people at the barn where she boarded her horse that it was a bad idea.
While there were several mitigating factors in the case, Jardine said, including the fact she did not intend to harm or kill the dogs, she lost her business, was in an emotionally vulnerable state and the case has received widespread media attention and condemnation, the judge said her actions still constituted more than just negligence.
The judge added that her behaviour following the deaths of the dogs was also an aggravating factor as he considered his sentence.
"She was trying to cover up her wrongdoing," he said.
The judge also considered victim impact statements from the owners, which, he said, were difficult to read.
"First she failed them and their dogs by failing to keep them safe. Then by lying to avoid the potential ramifications of what she had done she extended their emotional upset by deceiving them," he said.
Outside court, owner Amber Williams said the incident has made her distrustful of people.
"It will probably take a very long time before I trust anyone with my animals again," she said.
