Petco Dog Groomer Fired After Disturbing Video Goes Viral

After a video went viral this week that shows a Petco groomer repeatedly yanking a terrified dog’s leg, the company announced today it has fired the unidentified man.

Hanna Marie Pellissier was in her car outside the Atlanta Petco late Sunday afternoon when, through a store window, she witnessed the groomer’s abusive handling of the dog.

“He was trying to cut his nails and the dog pulled his paw away,” Pellissier wrote in a description of the cellphone video she took and then posted on Facebook.

“The employee then started smacking the table and then pulling hard on the dog’s leg. The poor dog was panicking and trying to get away. The employee just kept pulling on him.”

She notified the store’s manager, who told her, “I’ll try to say something to him.” She also called Petco’s customer service to complain.

Three days later, thanks to Pellissier’s diligence and the power of social media, Petco terminated the employee.

“There are strict grooming protocols in place to ensure the safety and well-being of pets, and we are very concerned by the conduct of the groomer in this video,” the company said in a statement sent today to 11Alive. “As such, after a thorough investigation, this employee is no longer at Petco.”

The dog is in good health and back at home, Petco stated.

No Statewide Regulation for Dog Groomers

Surprisingly, dog groomers are not required to be licensed or certified in any U.S. state. (New York City and Miami-Dade County, Fla., do regulate them; however, this is not done statewide.)

Thousands of dogs have been injured or died in the hands of incompetent groomers. Although laws have been proposed in some states to regulate grooming businesses, none of them have passed.

“Bijou’s Bill” is currently making its way through the New Jersey legislature. It’s named in memory of a Shih Tzu who died during a routine grooming session at PetSmart. “Lucy’s Law,” a similar bill in California that was named after a Yorkshire Terrier mix who was severely injured by a groomer, failed to pass in 2012. Petco and PetSmart strongly opposed the bill and lobbied against it.

Until statewide laws are passed, when you take your dog to a groomer (especially at a large chain store, where many of the deaths and injuries occurred), it could be a life-or-death matter to ask some important questions.

“It would behoove you to find out who your groomer is, how long they’ve been grooming, what kind of track record they have — you need to do this kind of work,” Rosemary Marchetto, Bijou’s dog mom, told CBS New York in December.

“I thought it was safe. I thought it was a licensed profession.”

Here’s the video Pellissier took, which is difficult to watch.

Photo via Facebook

Dachshund Gets Medal of Valor for Saving Saint Bernard

Two weeks ago, a 180-pound Saint Bernard named Jazzy escaped from her Belen, N.M., yard and ended up stuck in a ditch filled with mud for nearly 18 hours.

Jazzy is probably alive today thanks to her buddy Razor, a Dachshund who’s barely a foot tall.

“I went to feed [Razor], and he was kind of going crazy, trying to get my attention,” Tim Chavez, dog dad of Jazzy and Razor, told KRQE Feb. 18. He said his neighbor also noticed that Razor “was kind of running amok, and just causing a scene and trying to get his attention.”

Just as Lassie once led rescuers to Timmy in the well, Razor ran to the ditch. After a call to 911, eight Belen police officers and firefighters arrived and pulled Jazzy out, using a board and straps as they would for a human. She wasn’t seriously hurt.

“It’s never happened in my career, and in this business, we see a lot of things,” Belen Fire Chief Manny Garcia told KRQE. “We’re used to rescuing humans, and when it comes to somebody’s pet, it’s just like a family member.”

Chavez said he is grateful to have Jazzy back. “You don’t really realize how attached you are to your pets until something like this happens,” he told KRQE.

During the Baleen city council meeting last night, Razor was honored with a Medal of Valor for his “unknowingly valiant effort.” He was also presented with a rawhide bone that was almost as big as he is.

Capt. Joe Saiz of the Baleen fire department told KOAT he was inspired by Razor.

“Everybody should be doing stuff like this,” Saiz said. “If everybody gives a little, it’s going to make this world a better place.”

Another of Chavez’s dogs, a brown-and-white Pit Bull named Layla, escaped from the yard with Jazzy, but hasn’t yet been found. Razor, get help!

Photos via YouTube

Homeless Woman Walks 3 Miles in Storm to Take Abandoned Dog to Shelter

MARCH 6, 2015 UPDATE: As of this morning, over $2,300 has been raised via the Help Lisa Snyder, Joey’s Friend online fund to pay for repairs to Snyder’s van. Rami Packer, owner of Butch’s Auto Repair in San Pedro, heard about the good Samaritan and offered to repair her van.

“Dear wonderful people, thank you!!!” Snyder wrote yesterday. “You’ve brought joy, comfort and relief to me in my situation, and I want to point to every one of you and tell the skeptics and fear-mongers of the world, look! There’s the REST of the truth! … I will not forget you, not even all you people named ‘Anonymous’!”

“My name is Joey. I am looking for a home. Please take care of me!!” read a handwritten note attached to the collar of a Pointer mix who’d been tied to a light post Sunday in a San Pedro, Calif., park.

Lisa Snyder, who has been living in her van with three rescue cats in the parking lot of Point Fermin Park, decided to take care of Joey. She grabbed hold of his leash after he broke free from the light post.

“He was scared,” Snyder told CBS Los Angeles. “He was snapping. And growling. And trying to get away from people. He was just scared.”

She walked Joey around the park, trying to find someone who would take him.

“At first, I asked a lot of people, ‘Would you like a dog?’ And of course, nobody would like a dog,” she said. “So, then I thought, Well, what am I gonna do?”

Since her cats are not dog friendly, Snyder decided to walk Joey to the nearest animal shelter. It was cold and raining, and Snyder has to use a cane, but she managed to walk Joey to the Harbor Animal Care Center, three miles away.

“I got to thinking, If I had left him out here with all that wind coming off the bluff and all that pouring rain and no shelter over there at all, he would have ended up sick, maybe dead,” she said.

Joey, who is microchipped, is on a 10-day hold at the shelter. If his owner — who, it seems, should face charges for abandoning the dog — doesn’t claim him, Joey will be available for a new forever home March 13. With a strong emphasis on “forever.”

“I hope he finds a good family. A forever home. He needs one. He deserves one. He’s a good dog,” Snyder said.

An online fund was created yesterday to raise money to repair Snyder’s van, which does not run. The goal is $500; as of this morning, $225 has been donated.

“Lisa lives out of her van since she fell on hard times and could use help to repair her vehicle,” wrote Lorna Lee Locke Salem, who started the fundraiser.

“She opened her heart. Let’s open ours and help her.”

Photo via gofundme.com

News Photographer Rescues Dog Hanging from Chain Link Fence

When a news crew in Corpus Christi, Texas, saw a dog hanging by his rear right leg from a chain link fence this morning, at first they feared the dog was dead.

But as they got closer, they saw the dog was still alive and wagging his tail. Using a pliers, an unidentified 3News photographer cut the dog loose.

The news crew notified Animal Care Services. When an officer arrived, he took the dog to a neighbor across the street who said she knew the owners.

It’s not known how the dog ended up on the fence or how long he was hanging from it (or why no one helped him until the news crew came along). Once he was freed, he was able to walk around, but didn’t put weight on his rear right leg.

An Animal Care Services spokesman told 3News the department had been in contact with the dog’s owners.

“The dog appeared to be medically okay. There was a little bit of damage to the paw,” the spokesman said. “So when we spoke to the owner, we educated them, told them they needed to go to their primary veterinarian for medical treatment. We’re going to be following up on that in the next couple of days to make sure they did provide that treatment for the animal.”

The owner will receive a citation if the dog is not examined by a vet.

According to 3News, there were several dogs running loose in the area where the dog was found. Animal Care Services said they would be sending additional officers to round up the dogs and locate their owners.

Hopefully the owners of the dog freed from the fence will keep a better eye on him, and the photographer who rescued him will be identified and rewarded.

If this story gives you a sense of déjà vu, a Missouri dog in a similar predicament was rescued in 2010 by Plattsburg police officer Nick Sheppard. This video of the rescue — and the dog’s reaction to being saved — went viral.

Photo via Facebook

Pit Bulls Rescued from Dog-Fighting Ring Save Family from House Fire

Last summer the Pruchnicki family of Farnham, N.Y., adopted Shrek and Fiona, two Pit Bulls that had been rescued as puppies from a dog-fighting operation. Early this morning, the two dogs, along with Ivan, the Pruchnickis’ other rescued Pit Bull, paid it forward by alerting the family to a house fire.

“It was about 3:30 in the morning. I heard the dogs going crazy.” Dave Pruchnicki told WIVB.

The house had smoke alarms, but the dogs started barking before they went off.

Shrek was the most vocal. “He was halfway up the stairs, and he usually doesn’t come up the stairs at all. You know he was telling us to get out,” Dave said.

“We went downstairs to look and see what’s up with the dogs. The whole front porch was basically engulfed.”

His wife, Dusty, grabbed their 5-year-old son and they all ran out of the house.

“As soon as we hit the side door, the front windows blew in and the whole house went up in flames,” Dave said.

The house was destroyed. “Our memories, our pictures,” Dusty told WIVB. “I’m just glad that I have my son, and my dogs and my husband, and we’re healthy and we’re happy and we can replace everything in our house.”

The fire started on the front porch when embers that had been discarded in a steel bin were rekindled, Chief Peter Chiavetta of the Farnham Volunteer Fire Department told the Buffalo News.

Dave and Dusty said that if the dogs had not been there, they probably would not have survived the fire.

“Like I say, we rescued them and they rescued us, so I think we’re even now,” Dave told WIVB.

Photo via Facebook