Groomed to death: Scandal of unregulated dog salons where family pets are suffering horrific and fatal injuries

The craze in dog grooming has increased dramatically thanks to TV shows such as TOWIE and Real Housewives

routine trip to the dog groomers for Trudie the cocker spaniel... but she ended up being burned so badly she had to be put down.

After her bath, the seven-year-old pet, much loved by her owners, was dumped in a tarpaulin-covered cage fixed to a heater to dry off.

This resulted in severe burns and internal bleeding and her owner Maureece Sarell took the heart-breaking decision to end her suffering.

She said: “I can’t imagine what she went through in that contraption.”

Trudie was a victim of unlicensed groomers... one of the growing number of family pets burned, maimed or killed at unregulated parlours.

The craze in dog grooming has increased dramatically thanks to TV shows such as TOWIE and Real Housewives, where pampered pooches are often taken to “beauty” parlours.

Experts now fear that celebrity culture and reality shows are creating a boom for unqualified groomers. They have called for the industry to be regulated to prevent more deaths and injuries.

In the last two years, the RSPCA has brought prosecutions against four different businesses which burned dogs under giant dryers. Anna Claxton,  scientific officer, said: “While dogs do need grooming they should not be treated as people.”

Owner: Maureece

Caters

 

Jo Taylor, who ran the Yensid dog grooming business in Wigston, Leicester, where Trudie was fatally injured in 2011, has been convicted of failing in her duty of care following a prosecution brought by the RSPCA.

She was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £350 costs.

In another case a shih-tzu puppy was baked to death in a giant hairdryer in Sheffield in 2010.

Online forums are filled with complaints about dangerous groomers.

Torture chamber: The drying cage

 

One owner posted a picture of her dog’s ear with a huge 2.5in gash sustained after a trim at a dog parlour. In another post a user tells how her Yorkshire terrier and poodle were both left with blood-red ears after a groomer plucked too much hair.

Animal welfare chiefs are backing the call for regulations and claim too many businesses are set up without proper training and equipment. Currently anyone can set up as a dog groomer without any training or licensing.