Dog owner says Chihuahua accidentally hung herself on leash after being left at groomer

A man is devastated after his dog died at a D.C. grooming service. He said his long-haired Chihuahua accidentally hung herself on a leash.

It happened last Thursday at the Little Rascals Doggie Daycare and Overnight Boarding.

The dog owner, Gene Lacy, wants to warn other owners before they drop off their pets at the groomer.

He loves bringing his dogs to the dog park in Olney. But the visit has not been the same after what happened at the groomer last week.

"They told me there had been an accident and Keisha didn't make it," he said.

Lacy normally takes his dogs, Vinny and Keisha, to Little Rascals. He decided to have them groomed, but something went wrong with Keisha.

"They were giving her a bath and they either turned away or stepped away and she climbed out of the tub and I imagine asphyxiated herself," said Lacy.

He is still in shock as well as his other dog, Vinny.

"He wouldn't eat for the first three days," Lacy told us. "And then at home, he would just go in lay in her crate or on her mattress and just lay there -- wouldn't eat."

We called Little Rascals Doggie Daycare for a comment, but the owner declined to talk and she couldn't discuss it with us.

Lacy said the owner is generally good with dogs and doesn't know if she was there when Keisha accidentally hung herself. But he said the staff should not have left his dog unattended.

"My second concern is that this doesn't happen to anybody else's dog," he said. "You have some sort of protocol in place or somebody there watching the dog all the time. You wouldn't leave a baby in a bathtub and step away."

After this, Lacy may never let his dog out of his sight again.

Lacy is hoping groomers will use something safer to secure a dog while grooming such as a harness and not a leash.

He said a lot of people have urged him to take legal action, but said that will not bring his dog back.