Groomer Strangles Pomeranian

On December 20, 2008, my wife and I took our six-pound, nine month old, Pomeranian, "Alex" to PetSmart to get a bath and a haircut. We had taken him to PetSmart before, and weren't prepared for the ordeal we were about to experience. When Alex was done with his services, I received a call saying I could come and pick him up. After paying and walking away, I looked at Alex and he looked up at me. At that moment, pure terror came from what I saw. Alex's eyes were extremely swollen and fleshy parts from the inside of his eyes were protruding out of his eye.

I immediately ran back into the store and asked what happened to my dog. The PetSmart employees gathered around and one employee said that Alex looked like that when he came in. I knew something happened at PetSmart because my wife and I didn't bring him in that terrible condition. So, I asked again what happened to my dog and was told once again that he came in like that. After one or two minutes of arguing, I ran out of the store and rushed Alex to the nearest animal hospital. My wife met me there and after she saw him, she went back to PetSmart while I waited for the veterinarian. When the veterinarian came back he looked at me like I committed a crime, and asked me the same question I had been asking, "WHAT HAPPENED?" After explaining that I had just picked Alex up from PetSmart, the veterinarian told me that Alex had been strangled. In the vet's opinion, strangulation was the cause of the injuries to Alex.

I then went through a full range of emotions from shock, to anger and then to sadness because my wife and I love Alex like he is our child. I called my wife and told her what the veterinarian said, and she immediately started to cry. We naturally assumed that someone at PetSmart had strangled him because the PetSmart employees would have told us if something else had happened. When my wife got to PetSmart, she told the managers what had happened and that she wanted the money back for the grooming. We were refunded our money and told that the corporate offices would give us a call on the following Monday.

When we got home from the veterinarian, we called the police to file a report because we felt a crime had been committed and we wanted justice. A police officer came to our house and as soon as he saw Alex, you could see the astonishment in his eyes. The following Monday, my wife and I called Animal Control and told them the situation. We wanted to find out exactly what happened. The Animal Control officer told us he would do an investigation and inform us of his findings.

Alex was given pain medication and an eye ointment by the veterinarian that had to be applied directly to his eyes three times a day for ten days, which was one of the most uncomfortable times for me, my wife and Alex. Waking up at 3:00 in the morning to struggle with Alex to put a Neosporin type paste in his eye is neither fun nor easy.

Weeks passed and there was still no call from PetSmart corporate. We called to see if we could speak with anyone at PetSmart, but we were continually told that corporate would call us. During the investigation by Animal Control, two PetSmart groomers decided to come forward. They stated that they saw another PetSmart groomer being rough with Alex and then tightening the leash around his neck and lifting Alex up by the leash, strangling him. They also said Alex was left dangling in the air while the PetSmart groomer carried him to the kennel. Criminal charges for animal cruelty were filed against the PetSmart groomer, and a date was set for him to appear in court. When the court date came, the groomer pled not guilty and decided he would take his chances with a trial by jury.

After hearing what the groomer had done to our dog, PetSmart still employed him in the same department. As far as we know, the groomer is still an employee for PetSmart with no signs of being released.

Furious about what happened, we did the only thing we knew to do. We hired a lawyer in order to seek damages for our loss and to punish PetSmart and the groomer for what they did to Alex. They quickly filed a lawsuit on our behalf and our case is proceeding toward trial. You can view the complaint at: Calvin and LaVonna Cupid - Augusta, Georgia