POWHATAN COUNTY, Virginia – The owners of Colby, two-year-old golden retriever are mourning the loss of the dog when all they expected was to have him groomed. The Marks family says the dog died after being left too long in a heated drying cage, reports WTVR.
“He’s been going there since he was a puppy,” said Allison Marks, who dropped off Colby at a local Petco for grooming.
Allison didn’t hear from the store for a couple of hours, so she called and was told to meet the store’s assistant manager at a local animal hospital. That’s when she was told that the groomer had a graduation to go to and had inadvertently left Colby in the drying cage.
The vet said Colby likely died of heatstroke. After he died, the dog’s internal temperature was 105 degrees. Relatives said the dog had no health problems.
Petco released a statement that said employees were “heartbroken” over Colby’s death.
But Allison said she will be seeking “justice for Colby.”
“To me, it’s not an accident. You don’t just leave a dog.”
