Dog mauled to death at Buddy’s Dog Den in NYC, lawsuit says

A Manhattan family’s Alaska vacation was “destroyed” after their adored 7-pound pup was mauled to death at a kennel while they were away, new court papers allege.

Narinder Puri filed suit against Buddy’s Dog Den — a grooming and boarding facility on the Upper East Side — over his miniature poodle Bella’s death on July 30 after other dogs escaped during the night and attacked the tiny pooch, according to a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit from Thursday.

“It’s like losing a family member,” Puri’s lawyer Evan Miles Goldberg told The Post. “They were devastated.”

The 10-year-old furry friend was dropped off at the First Avenue dog facility on July 25 for a scheduled stay until Aug. 6 when Narinder, 38, wife Divya, 36, and their two kids — ages 5 and 7 — returned from the Alaskan getaway, the filing claims.

Buddy’s overnight staff member “was absent and not monitoring the dogs” when the pack “bit Bella, piercing her lung, resulting in excruciating pain and death,” the court papers allege.

Buddy’s “breach of contract while Narinder and his family were thousands of miles away from New York in Alaska, destroyed their family trip,” the suit claims.

Courtesy of Evan Miles Goldberg

Courtesy of Evan Miles Goldberg

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“It was miserable,” Goldberg said of the family’s situation. “You’re on the other side of the country in Alaska. It’s not easy to just hop on a flight and head back to New York on a whim. This was lingering over their heads.”

“There was nothing they could do,” Goldberg said, adding the family felt “absolutely helpless.”

Bella was found in the middle of the night July 30 “with blood covered fur surrounded by approximately 16 other dogs of varying size and breed that escaped from their respective locations at the boarding facility where they were supposed to be sleeping,” the filing claims.

The mini pooch was pronounced dead at an emergency veterinary hospital later that morning and the family was notified the next day, the suit says.

Puri has suffered “the loss of the return of his love and companionship from Bella,” and the “interruption and frustration of [Puri’s] family vacation,” the suit claims.

Puri was also forced to shell out the cost for the cremation of the dog, the filing says.

Despite Buddy’s website touting its safety standards — including having a small-dog-only floor — “dogs under defendants’ care were neither monitored at all times, nor separated on different floors, at the time that Bella was mauled and killed,” the suit charges.

“This isn’t the type of thing that happens when dogs are being monitored,” Goldberg said. “Supervision is essential to dogs’ well-being.”

“The case is about protecting our dogs and making sure this doesn’t happen to other owners,” Goldberg added.

The facility has refused to reveal the identities and details of the canines involved in Bella’s death, the suit claims.

“There are dangerous dogs in our community and those owners should know,” Goldberg said.

Puri is suing for unspecified damages.

Buddy’s didn’t immediately return a request for comment.