While breeds such as these are a testament to vanity-driven hubris, I think it’s a stretch to call this a mundane nail trim.

There’s a lot in the article that seems to points towards malpractice (if you can call it that when the profession doesn’t require a license in AZ). Their CCTV footage is missing 30 seconds right when the dog died, supposedly for unknown reasons.

Also, directly from the article:

Cardenas told investigators that while bathing Walter, he was freaking out. After the bath, she said he threw up food and yellow bile so she placed him in a kennel dryer for 30-45 minutes.

After that, Cardenas said she brought Walter to the grooming table and placed a muzzle on him “to prevent him from biting,” even though Cardenas stated Walter wasn’t trying to bite. Cardenas said once on the grooming table, Walter urinated, took two breaths and then died.

Meanwhile, multiple sources on grooming practices warn not to leave dogs in heated kennel dryers for more than 15 minutes. Pawsitivity Pet Spa published an article stating it can be “deadly, especially for dogs that are brachycephalic like bulldogs,” which means they have a short skull making it difficult to breath and hard to cool themselves. Cardenas told investigators the dryers they used blew cool air.