Dog’s Sad End Called a ‘Fluke’

It was supposed to have been a routine wash and dry for Sam and Harry, two golden retrievers, at the U Wash Doggie salon in West Hollywood this week.

But two hours after the dogs’ owners had dropped the dogs off, the salon called to report that Harry, left for 20 minutes in a dryer where the temperature had reached 89 degrees, had died.

By the time salon workers rushed him to a nearby veterinarian, his body temperature had risen above 109, Harry’s owners said. A dog’s normal temperature is about 101.

“We dropped him off, and the next thing we know we got a phone call that he was dead,” Victor Kaminoff said.

Francisco Ganero, owner of four area U Wash Doggie salons, said he hopes “the owner understands we didn’t do this thing on purpose. It was a fluke.”

The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department said no laws had been broken.

Ganero said everything was done right that day. The dogs were neither left unattended nor in the machines too long. The time and temperature were correct, he said. He theorized that Harry, a 4-year-old, became dehydrated.

The cause of death is unknown pending a necropsy. But pet experts say Ganero’s hypothesis sounds correct.

Dogs cool themselves by panting, which becomes more difficult in a cage under the hot air flow for extended amounts of time, said Dr. Dick Schumacher, executive director of the California Veterinary Medical Assn.

Although death from heat stroke in overheated cars is more common, he said, it also has occurred in kennel dryers when dogs become dehydrated.

To combat this, most manufacturers recommend running the machines no higher than about 80 degrees and providing the animals with regular water breaks.

Denise Stoops, president of the Southern California Professional Groomers Assn., said 89 degrees is “too hot.”

“You have to remember most people keep their homes at 70 degrees.”

The box-shaped dryers have Plexiglas doors and vents on the side and top. Most have timers and automatically shut off when the temperature reaches about 98 degrees, manufacturers say.

“Dogs can dehydrate, get too hot, pass out and die,” said Larry Haake a spokesman for Schroer Manufacturing Co., which makes heatless pet dryers. “It happens. It has happened.” But there are no laws requiring groomers to report such deaths, he said. “All of us in the business for any length of time know of it happening.”

Five years ago, a schnauzer died in a dryer at an Orange County Super Pets store. And more recently, two pugs died at a Pennsylvania kennel after being in a dryer.

Stoops said the incidents speak to a greater problem in the industry: Groomers may elect to be certified, but the law does not require it.

“Many people, when they start out, they aren’t trained properly

Ganero said he trains his groomers, though not all of them are certified. The woman grooming Harry has worked for U Wash Doggie for six months, he said, but has no formal training.

A mile from the salon, the other golden retriever, 7-year-old Sam, wanders through the house looking for his buddy, the owners say.

“It feels like the house is empty,” said Kaminoff’s partner, who declined to be identified. “It feels like there’s no fun in the house, no spirit. Harry was a bouncy, bubbly golden retriever, the life of the party. “