Langley Township woman, dog traumatized after suffering electric shock from heated driveway

A regular walk in the neighborhood has left a woman and her dog in the Township of Langley with physical and emotional scars.

They both suffered an electric shock, she says. The culprit? A heated driveway.

Rajleen Panaych first realized something was wrong on Dec. 29 when her 11-month-old dog Milo, a goldendoodle pyrenees mix, started wailing and flailing his legs.

“I got closer to him to see what’s going on and then I started feeling his legs,” Panaych told CityNews. “I went on my knees and I started feeling his legs and then that’s when I felt the shock on him.”

The electricity then passed through her body as well.

“I was screaming because I didn’t know what was happening. People actually saw — they thought I was getting attacked by a dog or something.”

Panaych says she was able to get herself and Milo off the driveway and called the strata manager of the building. That’s when she found out the driveway the two had been crossing in the Yorkson Creek condo complex was heated.

@itspoppin.ca friendly reminder to everyone who has heated pathways or driveways.. turn them OFF in this snow… #langleybc #electrocuted #surreynews #bruises ♬ original sound – It’s Poppin

“It was really traumatic,” Panaych said. “It could have happened to anyone.”

The Township of Langley Fire Department confirms it responded to the scene.

Panaych says the incident has left her with bruises and scars.

“It turns out that I had two different cuts. One on my forearm and one on my knee, because the doctor was saying the electricity went in one way and out the other,” she recalled.

“As for my sleep and stuff, I’ve just been waking up cause it’s traumatizing and my mental health has literally been destroyed.”

She’s also now wary while out on walks. Milo, meantime, has been left matted and traumatized.

“He literally has been barking at everyone and anything,” Panaych said. “He hasn’t been on a walk for more than a week now.”

Panaych shared a doctor’s note and vet bill with CityNews, which confirms she was examined for electrical burn injuries.

Rajleen Panaych says she and her dog both got an electric shock from a heated driveway in the Township of Langley. (Submitted)

It’s not clear why the heating system, which has since been de-energized, shocked the pair.

According to a letter to the strata manager from a contracting company that inspected the heating system after the incident, all wiring and circuitry appeared normal. It said further troubleshooting would be required to figure out what went wrong, a process that could include concrete removal once the forecast brings drier weather.

But the letter suggests the heating cables under the driveway were originally damaged by the developer of the project during construction and have been repaired at least twice since — once by the developers and once by the contracting company.

Panaych says a strata manager told her the heating system was defective and the electricity hadn’t been turned off.

A screenshot of a TikTok video in which Rajleen Panaych describes how she and her dog were shocked by electricity from a heated driveway in the Township of Langley. (Screenshot)

CityNews has reached out to the developers of Yorkson Creek and the strata manager for comment but did not receive a response.

Panaych says she is exploring her legal options.

“I don’t want it to happen to anyone else and two, yes, we got lucky, Milo is okay, but what if I lost my dog?”

Panaych detailed the ordeal in a TikTok video, which has been seen more than 340,000 times.

“I’m so glad it’s reached people, because that was my goal. Milo’s a big dog but if it was a tiny dog, who would have known?”