Video footage of a Toronto-based dog walker pulling, lifting and striking the animals under his care has community members up in (digital) arms this week, asking each other to monitor his actions and report what they see to authorities.

A Facebook user who goes by Brenna ODoggell shared the video with her personal network late last week, noting that the incident had taken place in Toronto's Beaches neighbourhood.

"The dog walker in this video is Anthony," she wrote in the caption. "He is seen here violently dragging, flipping and hitting a dog in the face repeatedly. He claims the black dog was choking the other dogs, and defends his actions."

The 45-second-long clip has since been viewed nearly 6,000 times and is generating plenty of discussion among those who live in or around the Beaches.

A #Toronto resident is warning neighbours not to trust this dog walker - 📹 Brenna ODoggell https://t.co/tWWSwb5PUM pic.twitter.com/e3tYYwCEFY

— blogTO (@blogTO) July 22, 2019

"I reported him in the spring carrying a puppy up the steps, hanging by its neck, with the leash," wrote one commenter. "I confronted him. He had nothing nice to say and was defending his actions. It's disgusting and I hope this video will help end this abuse!"

"Apparently he constantly yells at them," wrote another. "I heard that someone who lived in the same building could hear him always yelling at them when he boarded them overnight."

Despite this, ODoggell — whose Facebook profile indicates that she herself owns a dog walking service in the same neighbourhood — says that the man has loyal clients who don't mind how he treats their pets.

"The dogs in this video have all been identified and the owners have been notified, in most cases they have even witnessed the video and they have chosen to keep their dogs in Anthony's care," she wrote in the caption of her video.

She also stated that the man has been "reported multiple times over the past several years" but that Toronto Animal Services are unable to do anything other than issue tickets.

We called the dog walker in the video: “I’m sorry it happened, but I’m very good with dogs,” he said, before he hung up on us. Other walkers in the Beaches say they’ve reported him to police & the animal cruelty hotline- but so far no action has been taken. @CityNews story at 6. pic.twitter.com/vE9ZE2swON

— Tina Yazdani (@TinaYazdani) July 21, 2019

"We need this to stop. We need the community to be aware," wrote ODoggell. "We need eyes on him, and we need people to report it EVERY TIME."

In speaking with CityNews' Tina Yazdani by phone on Sunday, the man said that he was aware of the video.

"I was correcting a dog and people [saw] me correcting the dog," he explained. "It was like, jumping all over the other dogs, so I had to save my dogs from being jumped on and stomped on, so I stopped the dog the best I could from jumping on the dogs and hurting them.

"So that's what happened," he said to Yazdani. "I'm sorry it happened but I'm very good with dogs."