Dog Trainer Holds UES Baroness' Pup For Ransom: Report

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A dog trainer tried to pull a fast one on an elderly baroness living on the Upper East Side by holding the woman's rescue pup for ransom, according to reports.

Upper East Sider Elvira Esterhazy — an 89-year-old Austrian baronness by marriage — got a scare on Aug. 31 when her hired dog trainer Ivan Olivera demanded $1,000 for the safe return of her rescue pup Shadow, the New York Post first reported.

Esterhazy and Olivera — an alleged "dog whisperer" — had previously entered into an agreement to exchange training for English lessons, the Post reported. Olivera was supposed to cure Esterhazy's dog "Shadow" of his aggression toward other pooches.

It turns out Olivera is the aggressive one.

After receiving the ransom demand, Esterhazy called the cops on the dog trainer who was arrested the next day and charged with attempted grand larceny by extortion and resisting arrest, the Post reported.

Shadow was returned to the 89-year-old aristocrat without being harmed, the Post reported.

Read the full New York Post story here.

Photo by Patch