AJ Ross collapsed on the curb, cradling the lifeless body of her toy poodle.

Her once spunky companion, Kobe, was limp in her hands as she shook uncontrollably, unable to comprehend what just happened.

Ross, 35, took her 12-year-old dog for a nail trimming at the PetSmart East Liberty location in Pittsburgh just before Thanksgiving 2020. The trip ended with her rushing Kobe to the nearest veterinarian, who pronounced him dead, according to court documents.

“I thought it would be a quick in and out,” said Ross, a former Weehawken resident who moved back home to Pittsburgh during the pandemic. She’s a reporter who covers sports for CBS and CBS Sports. “The last thing on my mind was this would be a death sentence.”

On May 5, criminal charges were filed against two of the groomers who handled Kobe and two of the managers at that location. In a statement to NJ Advance Media, PetSmart said it’s “heartbroken” and “truly sorry” for Kobe’s death.

“After this terrible accident, we launched an internal investigation and found unintended failure to adhere to our pet safety processes,” the statement said. “Additionally, we cooperated with an external investigation, terminated the responsible associates and facilitated an autopsy to help provide answers.”

Kobe’s death comes two years after NJ Advance Media published an extensive report on the grooming practices of PetSmart, which is based in Phoenix and operates more than 1,600 stores in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. The investigation found that PetSmart’s groomer training can fall short of what’s advertised and that groomers were under pressure to meet sales quotas.

The investigation also identified 47 cases across 14 states since 2008 in which families claim they took their dog to the nation’s leading pet retailer for grooming — everything from a nail clipping, like Kobe, to a haircut — only to have it die during or shortly after the visit.

Like others NJ Advance Media has interviewed, Ross said her spontaneous decision to visit a nearby PetSmart location to pamper a loved one turned into a traumatic incident with little consolation from the retailer.

But unlike in other cases, authorities filed criminal charges against the people they say are responsible for Kobe’s death. During NJ Advance Media’s reporting, none of the groomers were charged following the deaths. In 2016, a PetSmart groomer in San Mateo, California, was charged with animal cruelty, but was acquitted at trial.

The charges against the groomers and managers, however, won’t bring back Kobe.

“I just wish he was still here,” Ross said Tuesday. “Something like this needs to be stopped. I still don’t have my dog. I’m sure there are people who won’t get the connection, but I truly believe there’s something intangible between people and the unconditional love and companionship a dog can provide.

“They’re like a family member.”

‘He was my shadow’

Kobe — an energetic ball of fluffy, white fur with beady eyes — could hardly sit still.

He had been that way since Ross picked him out of a litter 12 years ago in South Carolina, not too far from her first job as a TV reporter in Myrtle Beach. Ross, who was born and raised in Pittsburgh, felt lonely, and Kobe — named after NBA great Kobe Bryant — comforted her from the moment he licked her face when she met him.

As Ross progressed in her career as a reporter, traveling from city to city, Kobe was by her side through the ups and downs. Columbus, Ohio. Back to Pittsburgh. Cleveland. New York.

It was a bitter day on Nov. 17, 2020, so Ross put Kobe in a red and gray sweater to keep him warm. She had just bathed him the night before, and he was his energetic self, she said. He ran up and down the stairs. He followed her everywhere.

“He was my shadow,” she said. “He always wanted you within sight.”

Ross brought Kobe to PetSmart just after 2 p.m. for a walk-in appointment. He needed his nails cut, and the PetSmart was close to her parent’s home.

When she returned to the grooming area almost 10 minutes later, she saw Kobe laying lifeless on the table, according to a criminal complaint filed against the groomer. The employees told her that during the nail clipping, Kobe passed out and went limp, the complaint said.

“They were just standing there looking inept,” Ross told NJ Advance Media. “I’m walking in, shocked, and they were just standing around. They weren’t doing anything.”

Ross scooped up Kobe’s body and rushed him outside, hoping the fresh air would awaken him. She then collapsed on the curb outside the store. A manager told her to take him to a nearby pet hospital owned by PetSmart. Veterinarians attempted to revive Kobe, but he was pronounced dead.

“The whole narrative of ‘He just collapsed’ didn’t make sense,” Ross said. “He had a very youthful spirit. If he was lethargic at home, that would be very uncharacteristic of him.”

Ross’ intuition as a reporter told her something was awry. She went on a relentless pursuit to find the truth. Eventually, a regional manager flew in from out-of-state to allow her to watch the surveillance video of what happened.

She could barely watch the footage.

Kobe could be seen hanging from a harness-like contraption used by groomers to keep a dog in place, the complaint said. The groomers hyperextended his neck while lifting him above the table as he struggled in the tether. Kobe was in distress, and his frequent head shaking was ignored by groomer Elizabeth Doty, according to the complaint.

“Doty briefly looks towards Kobe’s head and then resumes the nail trim,” the complaint said.

A second groomer, Julie Miller, continued to hold Kobe above the table when he went limp, the complaint said. Doty removed all the tethers and then shook Kobe’s snout as she rubbed his body, the complaint said.

Two managers, Heather Rowe and Shapan Stonge, then entered the grooming area and rubbed Kobe’s body on the table, the complaint said.

An animal doctor with the Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh told the investigator that “Kobe was tethered using two different tethers, causing his neck to be pulled in two opposite directions as well as hyperextension of the neck,” the complaint said. “The hyperextension of the neck as well as the lack of contact between Kobe’s paws and the grooming table, led to Kobe’s airway being crushed which resulted in his death.”

Doty, Miller, Rowe and Stonge were each charged with several criminal offenses, including aggravated cruelty to animals and neglect of animals.

They could not be reached for comment.

According to the complaint, PetSmart trains its groomers to detect signs of stress in a dog and to seek immediate veterinary care when the dog shows signs of “critical stress.” Doty, who worked at PetSmart for nine months, went from being strictly a bather to a “stylist apprentice” after completing an online training program from PetSmart, the complaint said.

Picking up the pieces

PetSmart agreed to pay for Kobe’s cremation and the cost of a new dog, Ross said. However, she said she isn’t ready for a replacement.

“I don’t know if I want them to be the conduit to getting another dog,” she said.

Losing Kobe just before the holidays was traumatic, on top of an already traumatic year. Ross said she wants PetSmart to be held accountable and feels the company would have done little had she not disclosed she was a reporter. They tried to get her to sign a non-disclosure agreement, but she declined, she said.

Instead, she’s going public to raise awareness to the issue that Pennsylvania — like most states in the U.S., including New Jersey — doesn’t require dog groomers to be certified. Legislation in Pennsylvania to change that has stalled, Ross said.

After NJ Advance Media published its investigation, legislation to require certifications for groomers was drafted in New Jersey, but it never passed.

“There are no specific standards, and anyone can just wake up one day and do a six-hour online course and have your pet’s life in their hands,” Ross said. “There should be more accountability and oversight.”

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Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ.