Over the past decade 47 dogs have died across the U.S. during grooming, or within days of showing signs of ill health after grooming, at the nation's leading pet retailer, a New Jersey news organization reports, though what the numbers mean is uncertain. NJ.com said that its count is based on reports by PetSmart customers in 14 states, and said it is not definitive because there is little public accounting of such deaths, and no state requires all individual groomers to be licensed. PetSmart does millions of groomings a year, so the deaths cited represent only a tiny fraction of the pets it works with. And because of a lack of data, NJ.com said it was impossible to determine if the rate of deaths during or immediately after grooming at PetSmart is higher or lower than at other groomers. PetSmart, which has more than 1,600 stores in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, would not disclose the number of deaths it is aware of.Read more on NewsOK.com