Man, 51, allegedly leaves dog unattended for 1.5 hours at Tanjong Katong grooming facility, dog later dies

A 51-year-old man in Singapore has been charged with leaving a standard poodle unattended at a pet grooming facility, eventually resulting in the dog's death.

Chan Yew Heng was a director at Pawsome.sg at the time of the alleged offence, The Straits Times (ST) reported.

Pawsome.sg is a pet care provider and store located along Tanjong Katong Road.

What happened

According to a charge sheet seen by Mothership, the incident took place between about 9:15am and 10:45am on Oct. 30, 2025.

The dog, a four-year-old standard poodle named Buddy, was allegedly left unattended for about 90 minutes, during which its forelegs became trapped by its playpen.

This resulted in "extensive traumatic injury" to its forelegs and eventually its death, the charge sheet stated.

Buddy’s owner had previously told ST that a transport service picked up the dog from his home at about 8am that day and dropped him off at the store at around 9:15am.

At about 11.45am, the owner said he received a call from the grooming facility informing him that Buddy had died.

Chan is expected to plead guilty on Oct. 21.

If convicted, a first-time offender can be jailed for up to two years, fined up to S$40,000, or both.