Dog unable to stand and euthanized after routine visit to groomer: owner sues

Ladybug was a small gray dog ​​from Springfield, Missouri who is now at the center of a major controversy following a series of strange events that ended in her death.

Julie Lawson and her mother found an abandoned dog many years ago.

“We found her at a truck stop in Norwood, Missouri, where she had a new fiancé and had a bag of food and a toy,” Lawson told KOLR-TV. “My mom fell in love with this little dog and decided to keep her.”

Lawson’s mother passed away in 2021, leaving Ladybug to Lawson. The problems started during routine body care.

Jamie Chance, who has been grooming dogs for almost two decades and owns The Gentle Touch Grooming, has been visiting the ladybug twice a year since 2016 to groom her.

When Lawson arrived for her appointment on November 23, Lady Cow was as usual.

“Her appointment is at 2 p.m. and I walked in – you know, she’s doing her little walk like she’s in the parking lot,” Lawson said. “She is always happy to go in there. I have never seen so many people and so many dogs in a salon.”

When she finished grooming herself, Chance texted Lawson to let her know she was done and she could pick her up, but she would literally need to pick her up.

“She’s ready,” Chance wrote, judging by the screenshots she posted on Facebook. “Not necessarily her best hairstyle; she had a lot of trouble standing.”

Lawson was shocked by the change in her dog.

“When I brought her home, I pulled out her blanket; she still couldn’t get out of the car,” Lawson said. “I carried her in, I tried to put her on the blanket and she just collapsed.”

Screenshots of text messages between Lawson and Chance show that Lawson asked the groomer when Ladybug started having trouble standing.

“I took it back and it fell off when I put it in the tub,” Chance replied. “She would never get back on her feet for a long time. I can’t think of anything that happened. She never cried or acted like something was offended or wrong.”

The ladybug’s condition continued to deteriorate until she was drinking water from a pipette and unable to move. An MRI showed that her spine was damaged and was compressing her vertebrae, causing severe pain.

Lawson said doctors offered drugs and laser therapy, but she didn’t have the funds for the treatment. In the end, the veterinarians recommended, based on the extent of the ladybug’s suffering, that the kindest thing to do would be to euthanize her. Lawson made the tough choice just a week after his grooming visit.

Since then, history has taken two completely different directions.

Lawson claims that something must have happened at the groomer, which Chance won’t admit to.

Chance insists that nothing was out of the ordinary, Ladybug never showed any signs of pain, and that she would immediately seek medical attention if she thought something was wrong.

“Nothing happened that I thought was out of the ordinary at the time,” Chance said. “Slipping in the bath is a common thing. This is a bath. Dogs slide in the tub.”

“I’m very sorry that Lady Cow has passed away.”

She said she spoke to several veterinarians who agreed that based on the description of the events, the dog likely had a pre-existing medical condition that was brought on at some point during the day.

Chance’s insurance refused to cover the incident, and Lawson filed complaints with the Missouri Attorney General, the Springfield Police Department, and the Better Business Bureau. She is also pushing for rules for groomers.

“More than one veterinarian, as well as two long-term licensed groomers, have stated that such an injury could not have been due to her slipping in the tub at a distance of her own body, I was told,” Lawson wrote on Facebook. “It was a spinal injury that was supposed to [have] happened at the hour when she was at the groomer!

As Lawson’s story began to circulate and accusations began to pour in, Chance posted screenshots of more messages between the two of them.

“These last eleven weeks have been a living hell for me, which I believe was the goal,” Chance wrote in a lengthy post describing the series of events. “The ladybug’s owner decided that since the vet told her that a 10-inch slip in the tub wouldn’t result in a herniated disc, something else must have happened.

“She made Facebook post after Facebook post accusing me of refusing to apply for insurance, of lack of compassion, of doing something to a ladybug and refusing to take responsibility for it. She allowed her Facebook friends to run rampant with speculation and hateful, divisive comments.”

Despite the backlash that Chance has received, The Gentle Touch Grooming Facebook page is still active and the comments are still full of supportive and happy customers.

If you use a groomer regularly, you can tune in East by asking what their emergency protocol is, if they have liability insurance (and if so, what does it cover), how they document accidents, how many accidents they have. And are there cameras?

This article originally appeared in The Western Journal.

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