http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4262220/Pet-burned-to-death-in-dog-dryer.html

I'm sorry but this groomer should have been shut down, £350 fine?

What is the point in the health and safety acts if someone is allowed to get away with making a contraption like that and using it on innocent animals.

The groomer caused this pain and suffering her choice to make and use such a thing and she should have been prosecuted to the utmost it should have been in the thousands not a poultry few hundred pounds, let's be honest it does not even cover the purchase price of a decent Cocker today.

The poor dog, I don't even want to imagine what it went through too horrible, but the owner no doubt will imagine it forever and a day, feel so upset for her and that poor dog.

Totally agree that the groomer should have been prosecuted to the hilt over this. How can she say that she was checking the dog every few mins and that she was there the whole time? This is disgusting!

beyond belief....that poor poor girl :-(

It said in another report that she had used the dryer on another 100 dogs since the Cockers death. She really needs to be shut down, hopefully her clients will now be aware of her dangerous practise and leave.

The thing is if this were a properly manufactured dryer, as many of our groomers have, the groomer would be taking the manufacturer to court for causing burns to an animal as a defective product.

If a hairdresser, hospital even a builder on a construction site used a home made device and it caused health and safety issues they would be sued until they couldn't sit down.

I wonder if the dogs owner has contacted the dept of health and safety, if not they need to immediately and something needs doing about this contraption, the groomer works from home and obviously is cutting corners, if she has groomed 100's of dogs even after this happened she can afford the correct equipment and should be made to use it.

What kind of person could even continue to use that device after it caused an animal to be pts - has she no shame, beyond belief, the place should not be touched with a  barge pole by dog owners.

> I wonder if the dogs owner has contacted the dept of health and safety

I am not sure animals would come under their regulations.  I think it will all apply to humans and third parties ie employees and the public at that.

This made me cry.  She is so like my old girl.  How much suffering because of an idiot with a home made contraption.  I wish they'd made her sit in there and feel the heat!
RIP Trudie  x

She should have been banned . I am amazed she has groomed so many dogs since the incident and is still using the drying cage .Personally I have never liked them , thinking of my own dogs reactions to being put in them , always used the Tornado blow driers and worked in lines, brushed old coat out , brushed  down to the skin with the blower parting the hair so I have seen and brushed and dried every bit of the dog

> always used the Tornado blow driers

Another fan here.  :-)

I am not sure animals would come under their regulations.

You may well be right Stooge, I've never run a grooming business but surely it is regulated by someone can any of our groomers on site clarify who they need to go through to open up their business, you have councils and RSPCA for boarding kennels etc, obviously the tax man too but just wondering can anyone just put up a sign and say 'dog groomer' from their front door today?

They surely must answer to some kind of legislation and regulation?

I agree Carrington.  If I owned the dog I would be insisting that the  RSPCA prosecute under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.  Unfortunately the highest prison sentence is 12 months, but if they added the full £20,000 fine it would be the right thing to do.

This poor dog can never be replaced, but the groomer needs punishment.

OMG this is sooo sad its also made me cry....the thought of the poor dog suffering :( :(

> If I owned the dog I would be insisting that the RSPCA prosecute under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. 

Why the RSPCA? They only bring private prosecutions the same as the owner could. I am not sure that would be the appropriate act anyway.  She was charged with causing unecessary suffering which seems about right to me.

yes i agree jean!! it sickness me ......

DEFRA don't prosecute - the LA's do it for livestock and farmers,  and the RSPCA do it for our pets since the addition of pets to the Act.

> DEFRA don't prosecute - the LA's do it for livestock and farmers,  and the RSPCA do it for our pets since the addition of pets to the Act.

The RSPCA often carry out prosecutions but an individual cannot "insist" they do as they have no obigation to.  They are not paid for by the tax payers' money. 
Anyway, the woman was prosecuted whether that was by the police, the RSPCA or privately is not clear from the report I have read.

Gosh, I hope everyone reads that and leaves her practice, how horrible, that poor dog. :-( Yes some salons have drying cages (though I don't like them myself) but that's totally different from a home made cage with dryer attached. When I cage dry I have the dryer well away from the cage just set to blow warm air from a distance, no chance of overheating or burning, and I keep a close eye, they are in the room with me where I will see at once if they look distressed.

I havnt read the report too ,uch of a coward although from peoples comments I can imagine what it was and it makes me feel sick. I wont allow my dogs to be put in the dryer no matter how much my groomer tried to reassure me it was fine.
She accepts that it is one of my foibles and I would rather recieve home a wet/damp dog than one that has been on the dryer. 

Yet another reason for me to continue grooming my own dogs...

She should dry them on the table with a stand drier if you don't want them cage dried, you still shouldn't have to have a wet dog back or she isn't earning her money!

No I didnt mean that  it was a preference to my dogs getting any where near the cage dryer. They are fully  dried  by hand and looking beautiful without the cage thingy no worries. She certainly earns her  £40 with my Whispa all 45kg of thick long haired gsd

Oh I see, that's ok then. :-) Long haired GSD eh, I did one of those once, gorgeous boy but too much of a handful for me working alone!!

Yes he is a two handed or should that be four handed job. Fortunately very well behaved just very big and hairy :)

The report I read said the prosecution was brought by the RSPCA. HAve ot confess that I often dried my own  Yankees in pet trim in a cage - but with a blaster attached to the cage, not a dryer!  Thinking about how hot a closed grooming room gets with a big dryer going full blast on warm/hot it is awful to think how hot an enclosed cage could get.  Poor spaniel. :(

I'm sure it would be a good thing if groomers were regulated but not sure where the will to bring it about would come from.

The report I read said the prosecution was brought by the RSPCA

Well good on the RSPCA for the prosecution, but seems they have not had the power to stop the groomer from using the device, so that must mean that dog groomers are not licensed then and do not have a permit to run a business from home, as surely that would need some sort of regulation as other businesses do or is the permit just with regards to parking and noise etc?

Confused.com

Sounds as though she had a successful business if 81 other dogs had been in this home made drier. Wasnt like she didnt have the money to go and buy a proper one.
Beggars belief that she gets away with a fine. Poor poor dog (and owners too)

Wonder if the HMRC know about her business ?

Sorry, missed the point about licensing.  No, there is no license to be a dog groomer, and no qualifications are needed.  As long as you have planning permission for the use of the premises anyone can open up and trade as a groomer.  There has been much discussion about it on grooming forums over the years, but nothing has happened.  I don't know is this person was grooming from home or had business premises, nothing in the article I read mentioned anything either way.

I did read she worked at home.
I would not allow my dog to go into any kind of cage dryer, cobbled together or purpose built.  I would think it far safer to have direct physical contact at all times when drying a dog with any kind of heat.

> I would not allow my dog to go into any kind of cage dryer, cobbled together or purpose built.  I would think it far safer to have direct physical contact at all times when drying a dog with any kind of heat.

What beggars belief about this is that anyone would put a dog in a dryer & not check on them throughout the process, ignoring sounds of distress. Never used one & haven't even managed to get ours used to a hair dryer so towel dry. Don't understand how anyone would continue to take their dogs there when she has shown such cruelty, ignorance & disregard for their well being.

> ignoring sounds of distress.

The trouble is the dog might have always made a fuss about being in it which is why I feel the safest option is to "hands on" dry when using any kind of heat source.

> The trouble is the dog might have always made a fuss about being in it

If that is so then I wouldn't continue to place the dog in it & to anyone who works with dogs there surely is a difference between making a fuss & being cooked!

> to anyone who works with dogs there surely is a difference between making a fuss & being cooked!

Dogs can be very stoical when faced with pain. I am certainly not defending her just explaining why I think it best never to risk it.