The owner of a Richmond kennel is defending himself against allegations a dog was "starved" in his care, but agrees he wouldn’t be happy if his pet was returned in the same condition.

Matt Devries left his Great Dane, Apollo, at BC Canine for three weeks when he went on vacation in Brazil. He says the dog weighed 135 pounds when he dropped it off, but weighed just 100 pounds when he picked it up.

Devries said the three-year-old dog was "starving and malnourished" and even had trouble standing and walking.

"It broke my heart. I felt so guilty. He trusted me and I let him down," he said.

The dramatic weight loss appears to be the result of a "miscommunication" about what the dog should eat while it was in the kennel's care.

While BC Canine encourages dog owners to leave food when they board their animals so they don't experience upset stomach and diarrhea, Devries opted to pay a $5 per day surcharge instead – saying his mom lived nearby and bring extra food if there was an issue.

"If there was an issue my mom would come by and bring extra food – we discussed this," Devries said.

But facility owner Phil Moriarity, who is a former K9 officer with the Delta Police, said "the way it was left is that we provide food unless his mom had time to bring it in." He assumed that the dog owner would contact his mother.

But she never dropped off food, and Apollo wasn't eating the much of the food they were providing.

Moriarity said after five or six days in care his staff noticed that Apollo was only partially eating his meals, and was having frequent diarrhea.

"That's not something we would find unusual. Lots of times when you change the dog's diet you're going to see that," he said. "For the first six days we weren't alarmed."

He says about 15 to 20 per cent of dogs whose owners don't provide food experience stomach upset, including diarrhea, although only about 15 of the 5,000 animals through its doors each year come to them without their own food.

The kennel said it did reach out to the dog owner by phone and email but didn't hear back until they took it to the vet on Jan. 18 because of concern over its welfare. Devries said he received only one voicemail from the office, a week earlier, but it didn’t mention any issues regarding his pet.

Moriarity said Devries advised the vet by phone not to treat the dog, saying he would be home in a few days.

"Our instructions from him to the vet were for us not to do anything. What disturbs me the most is this is the critical time when something could have been done -- should have been done," he said.

The dog continued to lose water weight and then muscle mass until Devries came to collect his dog, Moriarity said, adding he believes the dog was "in distress."

The longtime dog boarder and trainer says there is no doubt the dog was malnourished, but categorically denies it was abused or neglected.

"If this dog was neglected he would not have gone to the vet. It does us no good because a dog that has diarrhea is extra work for the staff. It defies optimum potential for the kennel," he said.

Moriarity admits the photos Devries posted on his Facebook page are dramatic but is asking people not to jump to conclusions.

"The way that photo looks, don't forget it is six or seven days after [Matt] had a chance to intervene, at the vet's," he said.

"If my dog looked like that I wouldn't have been happy.”

For his part, Devries said he would like to see the kennel shut down, or at the very least, its staff given more training.

"I thought this was a reputable place. I thought I could trust him with my dog but I was obviously wrong," he said.

The BC SPCA said it has opened an investigation into the incident.

Eileen Drever said more people have come forward with information about the kennel since the story was made public.

The City of Richmond confirmed the kennel has been licenced since 2002, and that it was inspected Thursday and found to be compliant with all regulations.