# Las Vegas Dog Trainer Arrested After Bulldog Taco Dies of Heat Stroke

Source: https://dogfriendlylasvegas.com/dog-news/local-dog-news/las-vegas-dog-trainer-arrested-after-bulldog-taco-dies-of-heat-stroke/
Published: 2026-08-21

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The owner of a Las Vegas dog training business has been arrested on a felony charge after a bulldog died of heat stroke in one of his company vans.

 

Michael Martenies, owner of Sit Means Sit Dog Training, turned himself in at Metropolitan Police Department headquarters last week and was booked into the Clark County Detention Center, according to an arrest report released by Las Vegas Justice Court.

 

Martenies faces a felony count of willfully or maliciously torturing an animal causing death, [reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal](https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/owner-of-las-vegas-dog-training-business-arrested-after-bulldog-dies-3866072/).

 

The arrest came more than a month after a training session with Taco, a one and a half year old English bulldog, turned fatal.

 

Police said Taco’s owner, Kenneth Goldberg, dropped the dog off at Martenies’ residence, where the business is based, on the morning of July 8.

 

When staff returned Taco that afternoon, Goldberg’s wife and son found the dog in clear distress and rushed him to an emergency veterinarian, where he was pronounced dead.

 

A necropsy found Taco died from disseminated intravascular coagulation, a condition that causes widespread blood clotting and bleeding, along with organ failure brought on by heat stroke.

 

Police noted that English bulldogs suffer from a breathing disorder that can make heat stroke set in faster than in longer nosed breeds, and that the high temperature in Las Vegas that day reached 102 degrees.

 

Investigators said Taco was transported in a company cargo van whose rear air conditioning unit was not functioning properly.

 

Police also determined the van itself was not authorized for use under the business license and had never undergone the inspection required for vehicles used to transport animals.

 

Martenies posted a five thousand dollar surety bond the day of his arrest and made an initial court appearance the following day. He is scheduled for a status check on September 10, and no attorney is currently listed in his online case file.

 

Extreme heat remains one of the most common causes of preventable dog deaths in the Las Vegas Valley.

 

We previously covered how [overheating deaths have prompted new safety rules at shelters](https://dogfriendlylasvegas.com/dog-news/local-dog-news/dog-dies-of-overheating-at-reno-area-shelter-prompting-new-safety-rules/) and what to do when [spotting a dog left outside during a heat advisory](https://dogfriendlylasvegas.com/dog-news/local-dog-news/what-to-do-if-you-spot-a-dog-chained-outside-during-a-las-vegas-heat-advisory/).