Doggy Doodles Owner Appears In Court Following Death Of Dog Inside Grooming Business

The owner of a dog grooming business who is charged in an animal abuse case was in court on Monday.

The owner, Rebecca Rutherford, is charged with being an accessory to animal abuse and obstructing an officer who was investigating the report of a dog beaten to death during a grooming session.

Rutherford left her first court appearance without comment, just a date on the calendar to come back.

Her critics were at the courthouse too, but didn't get what they wanted.

"All I want to hear from her is I'm sorry, I messed up, I messed up and I should have done better and I didn't, I'm sorry," said DeeDee Williams with Justice for Atlas.

Rutherford has apologized for the apparent beating death of a dog, inside her grooming business Doggie Doodles.

The groomer, Diego Angel, is charged with cruelty to animals, with a trial scheduled next August.

Rutherford is accused of delaying access to the video that's key to the case and before she was charged, did apologize.

"I don't know what to say to anybody anymore, I'm sorry for him passing away," Rutherford said previously.

Protestors followed Rutherford's business to a new location and have an active Facebook group called "Justice for Atlas", but they want more than that.

"You don't have to be licensed to own a shop, you don't have to be licensed to go to school to be a dog groomer. That's wrong," Williams said.

They plan to ask Oklahoma lawmakers to put more regulations on groomers, and business owners.

"We all know we can't bring Atlas back, we know that, it's sad, he had a family that loved him, but now we can go on to change the industry to make sure it doesn't happen again," Williams said.