Martha Stewart’s new puppy dies in kennel explosion
March 10, 2009 by Chloe Findlay-Harder
Filed under Pets
Martha Stewart’s new Chow puppy, Ghenghis Khan died along with 15 other dogs in a freak accident in a boarding kennel.
“The domestic maven wrote on her blog that she was “deeply saddened” by the death of her dog, Ghengis Khan, in Friday’s blast at Pazzazz Pet Boarding, a kennel in the Pocono Mountains that breeds and trains show dogs.
Fifteen dogs were killed in the explosion, and two more died over the weekend.
The kennel was getting a propane delivery when the tank ignited, setting the pens on fire and injuring the driver, Timothy Kleinhagen, of Summit Hill.
Though badly burned, Kleinhagen managed to toss a cairn terrier over the kennel fence to safety. He was listed in critical condition Monday at Lehigh Valley Hospital.
“That man is a hero,” said the kennel’s co-owner, Karen Tracy. “My heart goes out to his family.”
Oh my goodness – that’s the worst nightmare of any dog owner I know! Unfortunately, you can’t do much to prevent freak accidents, but there are some basic safety steps you can take to help your dogs escape a fire.
- Make sure you have pet labels on the front and back doors, letting rescue services know how many pets and what types you have. You don’t need to get fancy with breeds or descriptions, but letting firefights know that you have two dogs and three cats can help them.
- Keep leashes hanging by your doors. Being able to control your dogs in a hurry can save their lives.
- And of course, keep your fire alarm in good working order.
image: Stock.xchg
It is a terrible loss to lose a pet. I have three pets, two dogs and one cat. I would be devastated to lose even one of them. They are my girls and incredibly loyal to my husband and I.
This is horrible. I used to work in a kennel and I often thought about how bad it would be if there were a fire. The dogs can’t escape. : (