AFAIU, Texas strictly limits the scope of negligent infliction of emotional distress claims. Negligent infliction of emotional distress is a fairly recent judicial invention. Being one of the first (the first, at least in the U.S., per Wikipedia) to recognize a claim in the absence of physical injury to the plaintiff, AFAIU it's much broader in California than many other jurisdictions. (EDIT: And even under California law this may be a difficult claim to make.) This is probably why Texas lawyers simply dismissed the possibility out-of-hand.
The point is not necessarily to win - the point is to cause the other guy to expend resources. Plus the crap-shoot of a jury trial. I'm guessing that nobody is going to take this case on contingency, but 100% that there's a clever ambulance chaser even in TX who can wreck people if that's what the author wants to do.
If you're paying for it, you can find a lawyer to wreck someone's life. Again, if that's what you want to do.
On the other hand, I have a family member who had this exact same thing happen. Except it was their other dog that did it, and that dog was also a beloved family pet. Rough is what that situation is. And what they did is feel really bad but get over it. They did keep the other dog. They won't be getting another toy breed for a long time either. Very sad all around.
So revenge is a great fantasy. If the author wants to do all that stuff, I'm positive 100% they could do something pretty nasty. But in the real world we often have to just ... get over it. Probably healthier, but me - I'd sue the bejesus out of them, just for spite.
AFAIU, Texas strictly limits the scope of negligent infliction of emotional distress claims. Negligent infliction of emotional distress is a fairly recent judicial invention. Being one of the first (the first, at least in the U.S., per Wikipedia) to recognize a claim in the absence of physical injury to the plaintiff, AFAIU it's much broader in California than many other jurisdictions. (EDIT: And even under California law this may be a difficult claim to make.) This is probably why Texas lawyers simply dismissed the possibility out-of-hand.