The SPCA has launched an investigation into the deaths of 14 dogs at a Saskatoon kennel, where they apparently succumbed to heat exhaustion.

The large-breed dogs died over the weekend at the Playful Paws Pet Centre. In a Facebook post, the kennel said that a mechanical failure caused a rooftop heating unit to continuously push heat into an upstairs room where the dogs were being held.

“We’re all devastated,” kennel manager Bonnie Clark told CTV Saskatoon. “Each and every one of those dogs were part of our family. Some of them have been coming to us for a long time. And we feel every inch of grief that the owners do.”

Clark said the upstairs room where the 14 dogs were kept was warm as staff prepared to leave the kennel at 8:30 p.m. on Friday. She said the warm conditions were not unusual for that room, but staff members set up fans to cool the air.

When they came back at 6:30 a.m. the next day, all 14 dogs were dead.  

Sarah Gee dropped off her German shepherd Aurora at the kennel on Friday morning, just like she had done many times before. The next day, the pet centre’s manager gave her the devastating news.

“She was like, ‘I don’t know how to tell you this, but there’s been an electrical malfunction with the heating,’” Gee told CTV Saskatoon. “I just interrupted her and I was like, ‘Is she dead?’ And she said, ‘Yes, your dog is dead.’”

Carson Friesen, who lost his dog Kali in the incident, said he was under the impression that the dogs were under constant care at Playful Paws.

“I thought…they’re going to watch her, they’re going to check on her,” he said. “If something is wrong, they’re going to know.”

Friesen said the worst part was telling his three-year-old daughter, who is away on vacation with her mother, that Kali was gone.

“I had to pick up the phone and call her yesterday and tell her that her dog’s not going to be home when she gets back,” he said. “She didn’t take that very well.”

The kennel is covering all autopsy and cremation fees, and says it will fully co-operate with the SPCA investigation.

With a report from CTV Saskatoon’s Taylor Rattray