YouTuber Brooke Houts isn’t going to face criminal charges for striking and spitting on her dog, Sphinx. The LAPD’s Animal Cruelty Task Force is wrapping up the investigation, dismissing the case on the basis that the evidence wasn’t strong enough to bring criminal charges on her.
According to TMZ, one source said that Houts’ controversial interaction with her Doberman Sphinx isn’t an easy watch, but it can’t be classified as criminal abuse.
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Houts is going to keep custody of Sphinx, as the task force that investigated the occurrence determined that the dog wasn’t in immediate danger. The LAPD will be closing the case for now, but if some relevant evidence surfaces, the case can be reopened.
She was a fairly popular YouTube star, boasting over 340,000 subscribers roughly a month ago. Most of her videos showed her in friendly and bubbly interactions with her Doberman, but an accidental upload of unedited footage revealed her hitting and spitting on her dog. The reactions were immediate, and she became the target of a community enraged by her conduct. This incident resulted in mass unsubscribing from Houts’ YouTube channel, along with a significant drop on her daily views.
Houts hasn’t uploaded any video since early August when the uncut footage was accidentally released to the public. However, she issued a lengthy statement addressing her behavior on that footage, saying that things in her outside life “have been less than exceptional,” and that she is “rarely as upset as what was shown in the footage.”
The famous YouTuber went on to mention that she is looking into getting Sphinx trained, but that dog training is “very expensive,” because it would require a trainer solely devoted to him. She added that her love for Sphinx is “exponential and infinite.” Near the end of the statement, Houts said that “the Amazon Prime mailman is probably tired of delivering packages of dog toys” to her house.
Watch the original uncut footage of Brooke Houts and Sphinx below.
[Image Credit: Brooke Houts/YouTube]
