Editorial
Tragedy Reveals Different Needs for Different Breeds by Gwyn Lurie
W
e love our pets. They’re family members. And the dozen or so years most of us get with our canine loved ones fly by too quickly. But when one dies prematurely and unexpectedly, it’s a whole other level of painful and tragic. No one understands this more than a local Montecito family, who brought their beloved and healthy three-yearold French Bulldog, Otis, along with his two labradoodle sisters, to the groomer for a wash last Wednesday, only to receive an unexpected call two hours later from the groomer that Otis had suddenly and unexpectedly passed. In an attempt to understand what happened, I spoke with members of the the dog’s family, the veterinarian present at Montecito Veterinary Hospital where Otis, already dead, was rushed by the groomer/salon owner, and the groomer himself. While it’s impossible for us to decipher exactly what happened in the approximately two hours between the time the “father” dropped Otis off at the grooming salon and Otis ending up at Montecito Veterinary Hospital with a temperature of 110 degrees and deceased, this story is a cautionary tale for anyone who spends considerable time around special breeds. By all accounts, it was a normal, busy day inside the salon with a dozen or so dogs “free ranging” around the approximately 200 square foot space, which, according to Otis’s mother, caused the father, her husband, some concern. “He feels so responsible for not listening to his intuition. When he got there, he said there were 10 to 15 dogs. He said it was pure chaos. So he said to the groomer, ‘Let me just come back some other time,’ even though we had an appointment. But the groomer said, ‘No, it’s fine. Just leave him here. This is how it is.’ He literally acted like, ‘No worries. This is how I do it,’” Otis’s father recounted. And, according to the groomer, this is how he’s been doing it for the 20 years he’s been in business, and in his opinion, that environment is a big part of the salon’s appeal. “The dogs get to ‘free range,’” he explained. “At any given time there could be a dozen dogs roaming around the shop, waiting to be groomed... This allows the dogs to relax and feel mellow and enjoy their time here.” By all accounts, within 90 minutes to two hours of Otis’s visit to the salon he was found unconscious inside the double-size family cage in which he was 10– 17 February 2022
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The tragic story of Otis can hopefully create more awareness around the special needs of our beloved furry friends
placed, along with his two labradoodle sisters, a sort of “transition place” where the dogs are kept between being washed and being dried. “The cages are simply in room temperature air,” said the groomer. “There is never hot air blown on any of the dogs inside the cages.” And by all accounts this too was the finding of the City Animal Inspector who visited the salon after Otis’s death. According to the groomer, the City Animal Inspector issued his salon a “clean bill of operation.” The groomer claims that, the moment they saw that something was wrong with Otis he picked up Otis’ body and rushed to Montecito Veterinary Hospital where Dr. Mary Waikart was working. The groomer says he then immediately rushed back to his salon in order to retrieve the family’s contact information so that the vet and he could contact them. The family, obviously and understandably shocked and devastated, do not recall, upon hearing the news that their beloved three-year-old Frenchie had passed, that the groomer ever apologized or took responsibility for the tragedy. The groomer has a different recollection. “The first words out of my mouth when I told them Otis had passed was that I was so so sorry and so so sad that this happened at all and that it happened on my time. But there’s a difference between being sorry something happened and being sorry because you
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