Animal welfare organisations are concerned about the way a plumbing company in Montreal treating guard dogs. J. Jodoin Plumbing is accused of having kept a couple of guard dogs outside in freezing cold.

Company owner Roger Barre told CBC News that the company had rented the guard dogs from a security providing company. The dogs were kept in an insulated shelters covered by a plastic tarp, he informed. He claimed that there had been no issues for the last five years. He also added that SPCA had visited the place and investigated previously. They found nothing wrong with the dogs during their earlier visits. Mr Barre demanded that he was not a person to mistreat animals. He denied that the dogs had ever been mistreated.

K-911, the animal ambulance service, apparently received several calls during the extreme weather conditions Canada suffered. At one point of time, it got even colder than Mars and the North Pole [Read Here]. Numerous people were concerned about how dogs were treated during the freezing conditions. K-911 owner Rodney McLean informed that he had received many such calls and decided to check it for himself.

Mr McLean told CBC News that, during his visit, he did not find anything that he might have liked. The condition of one dog in particular left him worried. The dog was "cold and scared". He informed that the vocal cords of the dogs were cut. Mr McLean found it to be extremely "cruel". He took photos and posted them on the Facebook page of K911 Animal Ambulance - Ambulance Animaux de K911.

The post led a series of concerns by the page followers. Eventually, K-911 was invited to visit the company again to see the condition of the dogs. Mr McLean stated that he found a couple of dogs inside a cage which had some wooden boxes wrapped in Styrofoam. He insisted that the dogs required heat during extreme cold weather conditions.

On the contrary, J. Jodoin employee Philippe Gagnon thought otherwise. Mr Gagnon told CBC News that the dogs did not require any additional heat since they had a 4-inch thick fur around them.

Dr Amanda Nuzzi, being a veterinarian, apparently knows a little more about dogs than Mr Gagnon. When she was asked about the requirements, she said that dogs, except some Arctic breeds, usually should not find their fur enough to protect themselves under freezing conditions.