Bulldog crushed to death at PetSmart minutes into appointment: 'She wasn’t just a pet'

A pet owner is mourning the loss of her beloved bulldog after she was crushed to death during a grooming appointment at PetSmart.

Vikki Seifert took her two-year-old pup Minnie to one of the chain's Las Vegas locations for a bath and nail trim, but 13 minutes into the appointment, tragedy struck. Seifert was spending the appointment wandering around the store when she noticed the employees rushing to the grooming area.

“I ran in there,” she said to KVVU. “When I went in, she was crushed under a grooming table. They said that they had listened for her heartbeat and she was gone.”

Seifert explained that while another customer tried to help her rescue her dog, the table wouldn't raise.

“I don’t believe it was the weight of the table,” she said. “It was the fact that it was electric and it had crushed her to the point that the table was closed all the way on her. And then with it being unplugged, there was no way to raise it.”

Seifert says she still hasn't gotten clarity on the accident and still has a lot of questions. She's waiting on an autopsy report and will decide whether or not to file a lawsuit.

“They told me my dog was dead by 6:43 p.m.,” she said. “I dropped her off at 6:30 p.m."

“People’s pets are their family members,” the pet owner continued. “She wasn't just a pet.”

A spokesperson from PetSmart released a statement on the incident, calling it "a tragic accident."

"A tragic accident occurred in our grooming salon, which led to the heartbreaking loss of Minni," the company said. "There’s nothing more important than the safety of the pets in our care, and we immediately launched a comprehensive investigation into how this type of unprecedented event could have possibly happened. We have been in constant contact with the pet parent since this occurred and will continue to do everything we can to help support her during this difficult time."

In 2018, an investigation found that 47 dogs had died at the grooming chain over the past decade. More on that in the video above.