KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 29 — A prominent Malaysian dog trainer has come under fire after several videos showing dogs being allegedly abused at his training centre went viral yesterday.

Samy Velu Chandrasagaran, who runs the Sams Dog Training centre in Puchong, Selangor, has since denied his involvement in the videos that showed two individuals — a man and a woman — slapping and also lifting a dog by its neck while conducting training at his centre.

In a letter written to both the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Department of Veterinary Services, Samy said he would cooperate with authorities should they investigate the videos.

Samy has also lodged a police report at the Bukit Puchong police station this morning, which he later posted on his training centre’s Facebook page.

On the centre’s Facebook page, the 33-year-old trainer said the individuals in the video are a husband-and-wife pair who used to be his practical students, but were never officially hired as trainers.

Samy was one of the top eight finalists of Cesar’s Rescue: Asia, a reality TV show that featured US celebrity dog trainer Cesar Millan going in search of the region’s best dog trainers.

On his website, Samy said he was mentored by Cheri Wullff Lucas, one of Millan’s master trainer and a notable dog behaviourist.

In the first video, a female trainer was seen hitting a dog during obedience training, while in another the male trainer lifted another dog by the scruff of its neck twice in order to pry away a bone that the dog was biting.

Samy said today he had no knowledge of these videos being filmed.

He also claimed that the videos were recorded by his former manager, who has left the centre after a dog allegedly died under the latter’s watch.

He added that both the practical students had left in September, while the former manager left in November.

Samy claimed that the video was possibly uploaded by his former manager in an attempt to smear the reputation of his dog training centre as the latter had opened up his own training centre now.

However, several Malaysians online were unconvinced by the letters and the police report, alleging that Samy himself could be heard in the video communicating with the abusive individuals.

As of the time of writing, Malay Mail has not yet been able to reach Samy for further clarification.