ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Allegations against an Albuquerque dog trainer are stacking up. She’s accused of abusing animals and duping their owners by charging thousands of dollars to do it.

One family claimed they need to find a new home for their dog after they sent her to train with Lisa Berry. The couple isn’t alone. Now, the attorney general is getting involved.

Linda and Victor Davis were excited when their new puppy Matilda entered their lives last fall.

However, when Linda found herself recovering from an injury in September, the couple worried the then-two-month-old pup, would be too much while she was healing.

They sent her to Lisa Berry, a local dog trainer News 13 featured when she competed on ‘America’s Top Dog,’ but the experience was not what they expected.

The Davis family said they only got updates from Berry through one-line texts, and they had no idea where Matilda was being housed. They said it also took them four months to get their dog back.

When they did, Matilda looked malnourished. They said she started to become territorial with their other dogs, attacking them. Friday, Victor tried to break up another fight but ended up getting bitten.

Now, the Attorney General’s Office is getting involved, filing its own civil suit in response to more than a dozen complaints.

“The goal of this lawsuit is number one to seek restitution for the victims that have been affected by Lisa Berry and her businesses. Also, it’s to keep her from conducting business related to pets, which is really the crux of the lawsuit,” said Lauren Rodriguez with the Attorney General’s (AG) Office.

According to the AG’s lawsuit, Berry housed some of the dogs in this now-shuttered dog kennel and her own personal home. Court documents alleged former employees of Berry’s reported the dogs being kept in unsanitary conditions, only being allowed to leave their crates briefly to relieve themselves. It also claims the dogs at Berry’s home were aggressive and being starved, some to the point of eating their own feces.

“They were coming home emaciated. They were developing really concerning demeanors. They were aggressive to other animals in the household that they weren’t previously aggressive towards before going to Lisa Berry, and there were also wounds found on the animals that were not there before,” Rodriguez said.

Berry does have a history with the law involving animals. In 2018, she was cited in Valencia County for dogs barking at all hours of the day. She was also facing criminal animal cruelty charges for dogs in her care caught killing rats. In both cases, the charges were dropped.

As of this week, she is now facing criminal charges for not having a permit to house 13 dogs at her home and not providing adequate shelter.