Pittsburgh native files lawsuit against PetSmart over dog's death
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A Pittsburgh native has sued PetSmart and two of its former employees over her dog's death.
Even nearly two years later, AJ Ross is still traumatized about what happened to her dog, Kobe, when she brought him to the PetSmart in Pittsburgh's East Liberty neighborhood to get his nails trimmed.
Kobe, a toy poodle, was Ross' companion for 12 years. Ross said Kobe was family to her.
"He had been through everything with me, all the highs and lows of my life," Ross said.
Ross recently filed a lawsuit against PetSmart and two former employees, claiming they used restraints on her dog that led to his strangulation death.
She hopes the lawsuit leads to accountability and helps pet owners keep their best friends safe.
"The civil case is just to bring accountability to this situation, justice if there can be any slim measure of that. But nothing is going to bring Kobe back," Ross said.
Ross grew up in Pittsburgh and is an employee of Paramount, the parent company of KDKA-TV.
She shared a surveillance video with KDKA, though it is too graphic to show in its entirety. In the video, Kobe can be seen inside the PetSmart in East Liberty on Nov. 17, 2020.
According to the lawsuit, the video shows "Kobe being placed on a table and having two tethers placed around his neck, one suspended from a bar above his head, preventing him from lowering his head or moving it too far to the side, and one traveling beneath his neck, preventing him from moving his head upwards."
The lawsuit also states that "Defendants, Elizabeth Doty and Julie Miller, began to trim Kobe's nails and eventually turned all four of his legs to the side, suspending him over the surface of the table, in effect hanging Kobe by the neck while they trimmed his nails."
"He didn't have a voice. There was no sense of urgency after this happened. I was lied to once I picked him up," she said.
Ross said the staff told her he "passed out and went limp."
"I hope that PetSmart overhauls their hiring and training practices. It's very evident in the surveillance video that those two groomers seemingly had no idea what they were doing and didn't care that my dog was suffering," Ross said.
The lawsuit states, "PetSmart failed to take the necessary measures to eliminate and/or minimize such injury and harm to pets, including, but not limited to, improving training, supervision, and certification of its groomers."
The suit makes claims of negligence, negligence per se, negligent hiring and supervision, intentional infliction of emotional distress, violation of PA unfair trade practices and consumer protection law, breach of implied warrant of good faith and fair dealing, and fraud.
"I'm not going to let this go unanswered," Ross said. "I want other pet owners to be aware and find people that are professionals and really care about animals instead of trusting a big box brand seems to not care about who they are hiring or how qualified they may be."
In addition to this civil suit, the former employees are facing criminal charges. Doty and Miller are both charged with two counts of cruelty to animals and two counts of neglect of animals. Their next court appearance is in October.
In a statement to KDKA-TV, PetSmart said, "All of us at PetSmart are heartbroken by the loss of Kobe. Following an internal investigation, the associates involved are no longer employed by PetSmart. Out of respect for all parties involved, we have no further comment at this time."