See Update - 8/28/08 - Three Arrested!

A woman who stole a couple’s sport utility vehicle at a cemetery and later abandoned it, leaving the owners’ crippled dog inside to die in sweltering heat, remains at large, says a sheriff’s investigator.

On Saturday afternoon, Craig and Mary Michael, both in their 60s, were visiting Riverside National Cemetery to pay tribute to veterans on V-J Day.

The Hemet couple parked their Ford Excursion and left it idling to run the air conditioner for their 16-year-old wolf-malamute mix, Rebel, who suffered from hip dysplasia. They told a newspaper they were less than 20 feet from the vehicle when a woman got behind the wheel and drove off.

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It always gives my heart a lift when I hear about a lost dog making its way home and a joyful reunion. Sometimes some of those stories have a special twist and this is just one of those that I want to share with you.

In Suffield, OH, a sweet little sheltie named Maggie went missing after a house fire. On July 20th, Rick and Jayelen Oaks’ Galaxy Drive home caught on fire after the propane tanks exploded. Maggie, who is terrified of loud noises, took off after she was removed from the home by her owners.

For two weeks, the Oak’s searched for Maggie, once seeing her in a cornfield. Jayelen called for her but Maggie didn’t come so on the advise of her vet Jayelen went back to the field with some food and sat and waited. No Maggie.

“I brought a book and sat for an hour,” Jayelen Oaks said. “She didn’t come. It was so hard to leave.”

Then last week, 13 year old Matthew Heater was riding his 4-wheeler in the field when he spotted Maggie. At the time he didn’t know Maggie was a missing dog. He went to visit is grandparents and saw the fliers.

Armed with the dog’s name, he went back to the field to try to find her again. After calling for her, his quest paid off and Maggie came to him.

“She looked really healthy,” said Matthew, who speculated Maggie came to his families’ home and ate dog food that had been left out for the familys’ dogs.

Then came the good part, he got to call the Oaks with the good news!

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A woman who currently lives in Naples was contacted by Miami-Dade animal services to say one of her two dogs was recovered over a year later.

Lately there have been more stories popping up about stolen dogs, lost dogs and missing dogs. Dog theft is up but since dog theft is treated, statistically, like any other property theft, it’s almost impossible to really track any numbers.

One thing for sure, dogs are being seen as ‘opportunities’ to the unscrupulous. They steal them, they sell them and they are even ransoming them back to the owners.

The latest scam seems to be aimed at the owners of lost dogs. Imagine, you lose your dog somehow, it’s heartbreaking! You worry and wonder. You plaster posters everywhere, check out shelters, contact lost dog websites to send out alerts, offer a reward.

Then you get a call from someone saying they found your dog. You’re ecstatic!! And this it seems is when the scam starts;

The pitch: “I found your lost dog!”

The scam: A phone call from someone who reports finding a beloved pooch is usually cause for celebration. But Western Union warns that it could be a cruel scam. The company has received reports from owners of lost dogs who say they’ve been called by people identifying themselves as truckers. The dog, a supposed trucker says, was found along a highway.

How it works: The driver says there was no time to get the dog home because of a tight delivery schedule. Now the truck is across the country, but the trucker offers to put the dog on a flight. All you have to do is wire money for the fare. Or sometimes the trucker will also say the dog was injured, and request additional money to cover vet bills.

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What an amazing story and an amazing story! After 5 years and 850 miles, Rocco the beagle is back in the loving arms of Natalie Villacis, all because of a little microchip.

In spring of 2003, the then much smaller Rocco, disappeared from his family’s Queen’s New York home by digging out under a fence.

Natalie Villacis, Rocco’s then 5 year old owner, was heartbroken. The family plastered missing flyers everywhere, called animal shelters and looked for Rocco with no success. Eventually they moved on with their life but little Natalie never forgot about Rocco.

Natalie kept Rocco’s favorite stuffed toy and never stopped wondering “what happened to Rocco, where he went and if someone good found him”.

“Every time I would see a dog on the street , I would say to my mom, ‘Maybe Rocco will come back’,” Natalie said.

“She would say that he probably isn’t going to come back. I would say, ‘I know, but maybe he will’.”

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Dispute of Ownership of Nashville Dog Heading to Court

Several months ago Chris Morris found this dog, a Bernese Mountain dog, wandering the streets in his neighborhood, no ID, no tags. Morris took the dog in, got him cleaned up, got him licensed and vetted and began the months long search for the dog’s owner even placing ‘Found Dog’ ads online.

“If we found the dog and it had a name on it and had been wearing a tag, the first thing we would’ve done is taken him back,” said Morris.

Months later and no one claimed the dog that Morris named Ellis. He and his family loved the sweet and affectionate dog and he quickly became part of the family. Finally they gave up the search and happily accepted their new furry family member.

All was well until the day the dog disappeared from the Morris’ yard. They searched for their beloved Ellis, finding the dog in the yard of a neighbor, Virginia Gonzales-Garcia.

Gonzales-Garcia claims that the dog is hers. She says that someone stole the dog out of her yard months ago and that she and her family looked for the dog, a dog she adopted from a local shelter. She said he was wearing tags but that someone must have removed them.

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Dog theft is on the rise, all you need to do is check out the news. Small dogs, especially, are big business and big money. Thieves are targeting these dogs and pet owners are suffering.

Here are two stories of stolen pets, both Yorkies, one from Florida and one from Texas and some tips on protecting your pet.

Thieves Bypass Valuables, Steal Dog

One Florida couple, the McKinnons, who had been victims of home invasion previously, had their home broken into and the thieves bypassed jewelry, electronics but not their dog. Precious, a 3 year-old, 5 lb Yorkie was stolen and the couple are heartbroken.

“It’s just very sad that someone would do this to you,” said the dog’s owner, Ken McKinnon. “I don’t know what to do.”

“She’s as cute as can be,” McKinnon’s wife, Marie McKinnon said. “I don’t know if (they took her) because they couldn’t get anything else.”

Since the theft on Tuesday, they worry whether Precious will be properly taken care of. They’ve put up fliers, a video on YouTube and registered at petfinder websites.

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This cute story is out of Taiwan, of a dog lost… and found, under unusual and amusing circumstances!

Chen’s beautiful Husky broke lose of his leash when they were out for a walk and he lamented finding his companion in the city of Taiwan until he saw him on TV one nite a few days later. Local media showed a store’s video camera catch his Husky, Sunny, happily padding around the convenience store until he came upon the candy.  There he proceeded to snatch two chocolate bars and start munching.

Seems Sunny followed a woman customer into the store and the shopkeeper, thinking the dog belonged to the woman, didn’t say anything.  It wasn’t until the dog snagged the chocolate bars that the shopekeeper found out the dog didn’t belong to the customer.

He took the dog to a local police station, believing it to be a lost dog and the news station broadcast the tape of the chocolate stealing dog, leading to a happy reunion of Chen and Sunny.

Chen picked up Sunny and then went to the convenience store to apologize and probably pay for the prodigal’s pilfered candy as well.

I always love happy endings when lost dogs are reunited with their owners but this one had such an amusing twist I couldn’t resist!

Aw, thank goodness for a happy ending for a little boy!

Microchips Help Lost Dogs be Found

There is not much of anything in the world than the sight of a child who is grieving a lost dog. Teary-eyed and depressed, yet hopeful, she goes around the neighborhood tacking Xeroxed signs to telephone poles, pleading for the safe return of her beloved pet, all the time knowing that the odds are stacked against her and her dog.

Over the years there have been various methods enacted to try and raise the number of lost pets that are reunited with their owners. Dog licensing and tag laws are one way that local governments have tried to help, but they don’t work very well at all. If a lost dog has lost its identification tag it is nearly impossible for anyone to find the dog’s owner. Read more… »

Lately, if you watch the news, you will have noticed an increasing rash in the number of stolen dogs; from pets stores, shelters, vehicles, people’s homes and even off the street when someone may leave their dog unattended. The largest majority are smaller, purebred dogs because they have turned into a commodity. They’re easy to grab, transport and turn into cash. their popularity has risen dramatically recently especially with the celebs and their pocket pooches. It’s chic and thieves are taking advantage.

Here’s some information and advice to help you protect your canine companion and don’t think it can’t happen to you, it can happen to anyone! Don’t take the chance, be prepared!

Dognapping on the Rise

As the value and profile of purebred and crossbred dogs are on the rise, so are incidents of dognapping. The theft of pet dogs was once a rare occurrence, but has become a specialized criminal enterprise. Like car thieves, dognappers tend to target specific types of dogs. Toy breeds such as Chihuahuas, Yorkshire terriers and Maltese are especially desirable to dognappers as they are in high demand and can fetch upward of $2,500.

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