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On Jan. 14th we took our 9-year-old English Bulldog for a bath only.

She had no health issues. Within 35-40 minutes from drop off time, Petco called and said we needed to pick Bella up, as she was having trouble breathing. (She was not breathing when we arrived at Petco.) Bella was rushed to vet across the street and could not be revived. The necropsy results say that her lungs collapsed due to a lack of oxygen!

She SUFFOCATED. Petco has refused to allow me to see the employee statements describing what happened and say that same are confidential due to possible litigation. I simply want to know what happened to my dog in the short time she was in Petco's care. If it is something that could be prevented, then I would ask Petco to train their staff accordingly or do not accept breeds that they cannot care for...

i.e., determining the signs of respiratory distress. I just feel that I have been lied to again and again then pawned off to the insurance carrier who is rude and horrible!!! I haven't made a claim. I just want answers.

My dog suffered a preventable disgusting death due to either the lack of knowledge of respiratory distress in bulldogs or simple negligence of not paying attention to her due to being busy with too many other things. I have prayed and prayed. I hope the silver lining in this tragedy is that another bulldog does not die due to the inexperience or negligence of groomers. I miss my Bella every day.

Research your groomers! When you check the pet in, ask groomer to described signs of respiratory distress.

Ask for the protocol for same. If the groomer can't give you the same answer your vet would, don't leave your dog!!

Monetary Loss: $6500.

Location: Grapevine, Texas

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Guest

I am so very sorry for ur loss. My Corgi puppy is suppose to go to the groomer at our vets office.

I tried to do her nails but she is very wiggley. I thought they could bathe her and do her nails too. Now I am very worried. :( Don't use Blue Pearl either!

Very bad experience.

More liars. :(

Guest

I am so sorry about your loss. I cried reading this. I hope you were able to get some closure by writing this to warn others.

Guest

I'm sorry for your loss, but you will sleep better when you let go of the anger that you have misdirected at this grooming salon. You had both the age of the dog and breed working against you as far as respiratory illnesses go.

It doesn't matter if the dog had never had any recorded issues before. The regular sights and sounds of being in the salon like the noise, water, dryers...and other dogs barking puts stress on literally all of the animals. The groomers have standard check in questions that try to *** out pets that are unsafe to accept, but sometimes health issues present themselves even in "safe" situations. They did the right thing by calling you as soon as they noticed a change in your dog's behavior.

Sometimes there is no answer to "what happened to my dog?" I remember hearing about a young english bulldog that passed away after respiratory failure while at a grooming salon. After an autopsy the owners discovered that the dog had a trachea that was shorter than it should be. The owners were told that the dog could have died at anytime, anywhere.

It doesn't make it any less sad, but again, there is just nobody at fault. It doesn't sound like there were any signs of neglect or abuse, so please honor your dog's memories rather than focus on punishing the store.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-831314

The employee that gave her the bath is to blame. They should have a general knowledge of problems with each breed.

If they don't, they should ask someone or look it up. I have known, since I was little, that you need to be very cautious washing around the face of all animals. I have also known that you never put an English Bulldogs face under running water because, like Pugs, their adorable smushed faces cause difficulty breathing. When bathing an English Bulldog, the face should be washed in sections, with you hand blocking water from the nose whenever possible.

They should be taught this (or better yet, know this) before being allowed to bathe any animal! The blame should not only fall on the person who bathed the dog, but also on her superiors, who clearly did not train/supervise this person properly.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-853879

And where did you get this information that they wee holding the dogs head under water?

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-853887

Where did you read that?!!? I don't see that written anywhere! Are you commenting on a different review altogether?!?

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-831314

***. If Petco won't let him see statements of the employees that were present then they killed that dog, whether by accident or not.

I read a similar Petco complaint where a pug was killed because they put a noose around the dog's neck while in the bath tub. The girl that was doing the pug walked out of the room to take a phone call, came back 5 minutes later, and the pug had hung himself! Negligence is my guess. There was another instance where a pug was dropped and died.

It goes on and on, and accidents happen, but I'll be damned if anyone is putting one of my dogs in a tub with water, up off the ground, and putting a noose around it's neck to hold it!

This poor person hasn't even been given the courtesy of knowing what happened to his dog because they know he can sue them. Shame on Petco, and shame on you for being so cold.

Guest

Unbelievable! If I were you I would hire a lawyer!

You definitely have a case. And part of your case would have Pet Co. pay for your legal fees.

I could not imagine going through that with my fur baby! My condolences go to you and your family.

Guest

They could have had her in a cage dryer and I know where I work we are not allowed to have dogs that can have breathing problems in them its a hose that connects to the front of cage that blows in room temp air if they had her there 40 mins good chance that's how they were drying her

Guest

I'm so sorry about your little girl. I'm a groomer and the most logical explanation to what happened was while they had her in the tub they had the lead too tight around her neck.

Bulldogs, since they have really short snouts, have trouble breathing. They should've known this. Had they just checked it, this would've never happened. Before I started working where I am now, I considered applying at Petco, I spent a few hours watching the groomers there.

They aren't careful, they don't have the dogs best interests in mind, they act as though it's an assembly line, they want to get the most dogs in ad out as possible. They don't care how the dog feels. I saw a lady try for 2 hours to clip a dogs nails. Nobody would help her, It was disgusting.

I also saw a groomer smack a dog in their face because they wouldn't stand still. Never take your dog to a chain like Petco to have them groomed, go to a locally owned groomer, they're much more patient and your dog will have a better experience

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-798857

If it is happening at chains, it is happening in private shops too. I worked at a private shop and have been asked to do unsafe things by the owner of the shop.

I know not all petcos are managed well. The one I work at is managed well. It could have been a combination of the groomers not handling the dog well in addition to the fact that bulldogs are now bred to the extreme so that the simple act of breathing is laborious for them because of their anatomy.Grooming is stressful on dogs no matter how gentle and careful you are with them.

The dog probably had difficulty breathing in the first place, add the stress of grooming and maybe an inexperienced groomer and look what happened. You can blame petco but the same thing could have happened at a private shop

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-798857

Ive never seen treatment like this at any petco. ..

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