Metro

Author cheated Bronx dog trainer out of book profits: lawsuit

A Bronx dog trainer says she has been cheated over a kids’ storybook about how to meet dogs.

Eve Demian says prolific children’s book author Stephanie Calmenson used her ideas, training techniques and guidance to write “May I Pet Your Dog?” an award-winning tale featuring Calmenson’s pup Harry as the star, Demian claims in a lawsuit.

The trainer and the author met in 2003, when Calmenson sought Demian’s help in training her then-puppy, Harry.

Calmenson hung on Demian’s every word, the trainer claims, and “would take a special interest in the words and phrases that plaintiff was using when describing her training ideas,” writing them down verbatim, according to the Manhattan Supreme Court papers filed last week.

The two hatched the idea for the book in 2004, Demian says in her suit.

Calmenson wooed Demian by telling her the book would get her new clients, promising to list her as a technical adviser and to give her half the profits. Calmenson did neither, and then “distracted” the trainer by asking her to work on other projects, Demian alleges.

The trainer, who says she didn’t get a single client from the book, is seeking half the profits from “May I Pet Your Dog?” as well as unspecified damages.

Calmenson did not respond to messages seeking comment.