{"id":793119,"date":"2026-07-10T16:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T16:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/793119\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T16:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T16:22:08","slug":"completely-devastated-moncton-n-b-dog-owner-says-2-of-her-dogs-died-after-visit-to-moose-jaw-dog-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/793119\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Completely devastated\u2019 Moncton, N.B., dog owner says 2 of her dogs died after visit to Moose Jaw dog park"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 5 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

A New Brunswick woman is looking for answers as she suffers the loss of two of her beloved dogs, following a visit to a Moose Jaw dog park last month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Vanessa Forbes was entering the final leg of a cross-country road trip from Moncton to Edmonton to visit her daughter, when she stopped at the Small Dog Park at 1500 High St. West in Moose Jaw, SK.<\/p>\n

Forbes says she normally avoids dog parks, but had wanted to give her travel companions \u2013 six Cavalier King Charles Spaniels \u2013 the chance to let off some steam.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody was energetic and bouncing around and excited to get out of the truck and actually run,\u201d she said.\u00a0“I just assumed that a licensed city dog park was going to be safe for them and it wasn’t.”<\/p>\n

\"AThe Moose Jaw Dog Parks are located at 1500 High Street. (City of Moose Jaw website)<\/p>\n

Forbes says upon entering the park, her dogs almost immediately ran over to some dog dishes on the ground and started drinking.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI went over and I dumped them because that’s how things [diseases] get passed\u2026 but I didn\u2019t think anything of it,\u201d she said, explaining that she had jugs of filtered water waiting for all of them in her truck.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Forbes said she snapped to attention several minutes later when she overheard another woman in the park ask, \u2018Did you see that dog just fall over?\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018I looked at the dog and I was like, \u2018that’s my dog\u2019,\u201d Forbes said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AVanessa Forbes’s dog Valerie became ill and died after visiting a small dog park in Moose Jaw, Sask. (Submitted by Vanessa Forbes)<\/p>\n

Initially thinking they might be overheating, Forbes began to round the dogs up. It was only once everyone was back in the truck with the air conditioning blasting, that a closer look at her dog, called Valerie, told her something was seriously wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHer eyes were open and her tongue was out and there was foam and gruel around her mouth. I could see she was still breathing, but she wasn’t moving,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Forbes said that after yelling out to warn the other dog-owners in the park that her pets had been poisoned, she jumped in her truck, and “flew”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI did not stop for stop signs, I did not stop for lights,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She was only minutes away from the Moose Jaw Animal Clinic, but by the time she arrived, she said three of her dogs were in critical condition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cValerie did not make it,\u201d Forbes said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Moose Jaw Animal Clinic declined to comment on the situation.\u00a0Forbes said that after losing Valerie, she called off the rest of her trip.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI left the clinic with my tailgate open. I didn\u2019t even go to a hotel, I was too upset,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t over.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018A secondary nightmare\u2019<\/p>\n

Back in Moncton more than a week later, Forbes says she lost a second dog, called Buttercup, to\u00a0 veterinary complications following the incident.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Buttercup had been pregnant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI am completely devastated. I lost two of my dogs and her puppies. I’m not wrapping my head around why this is happening and why it happened to them,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s like a secondary nightmare.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AButtercup, one of Vanessa Forbes’s dogs. Forbes says Buttercup, who was pregnant, died this week as a result of complications following her visit to the Moose Jaw Dog Park in June. (Submitted by Vanessa Forbes)Water samples clear, City says<\/p>\n

The City of Moose Jaw issued a statement Thursday saying it has received the results of water samples collected from the two dog parks in question.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The statement said the tests, conducted by the Saskatchewan Health Authority’s Provincial Laboratory, “Confirm that all 10 samples of water collected from containers at the dog parks on June 26, and a separate sample from the outside tap connected to the city\u2019s water distribution system, met Canadian drinking water quality standards.”<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the water testing results did not identify any concerns with the drinking water supply, the City continues to review all available information related to this incident,\u201d the statement said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dog parks will remain temporarily closed while the city awaits and reviews the autopsy results from the deceased animal.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Forbes said she is paying to have the Moose Jaw Animal Clinic send all of her dogs\u2019 stomach contents to a special lab for testing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDogs don’t drop dead and foam at the mouth with their tongue hanging out for no reason,\u201d she said, explaining that the latest results from the vet had come back as \u2018inconclusive\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m not going to stop until I get answers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Answers don\u2019t always come cheap \u2014 Forbes said she has incurred about $12,000 in veterinary bills and associated testing since the initial June 26 dog park visit. <\/p>\n

She has started a GoFundMe page in an effort to offset the costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 5 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":793120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":["post-793119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}