Recently in Lost pet Category

Speaking of stolen dogs, there was an interesting story from last week in our sister paper the Whittier Daily News:

A man and a woman were arrested on Sept. 27 for allegedly keeping their neighbor's missing dog, authorities said. They were booked on suspicion of receiving stolen property, said Los angeles County sheriff's Detective Rebecca Basnett.

..... Muneca, a 5-month-old purebred Siberian husky valued at about $1,000, disappeared from her yard in the 1100 block of Corley Drive on Sept. 19, detectives said.

More than a week later, after the neighborhood had been flooded with fliers reporting the missing animal, a neighbor told the dog's owner they'd spotted the missing puppy at another neighbor's home ...

Alberto Hernandez, 27, and Anna Gallardo, 19, were arrested for receiving stolen property and held in lieu of $20,000 bail, detectives said. Gallardo told investigators she was holding the dog at the request of Hernandez.

Here's that surveillance video that seems to confirm that Bubba the puppy was the victim of a dognapping. 

MISSING PUPPY 

BROWN BULL MASTIF NAMED BUBBA 

LAST SEEN IN FRONT OF HIS HOUSE 

1123 S. PATTON SAN PEDRO, CA 90731 

ON THE AFTERNOON OF OCT. 3RD 

WEIGHS 20-25 LBS AND HAS A RED COLLAR WITH TAGS 

NEEDS MEDICATION 

REWARD BEING OFFERED 

NO QUESTIONS ASKED, 

PLEASE CALL WITH ANY INFORMATION(310) 308-5666 OR (310) 892-2223

Some "welcome" to the neighborhood. 

We have some new neighbors who were just moving in this weekend when their 11-week-old, purebred bull mastiff puppy, Bubba, was apparently stolen. 

When I got home from church this afternoon, a crew of friends and relatives were mobilizing with signs and flyers in an effort to help the couple find their dog.

There's reason for hope. Another neighbor happens to have a video camera that's installed on their property and she says the stolen puppy caper was caught on tape. The videotape  reportedly shows a woman driving up and stopping her gray FJ Cruiser (with roof racks), then picking the puppy up from in front of the house in the Vista Del Oro section of San Pedro.

The couple moving in had spent much time securing (they thought) the backyard for the puppy before moving in. But puppies are puppies and he apparently made his way out Saturday and was sitting in front of the house when he was seen being taken (the owners were gone).

Bubba was wearing a red collar and a large ID tag. He weighs about 25 pounds and is fawn colored. These are recent photos of him posted here. 

If you know anything about his whereabouts, give his owners a call: 310-308-5666 or 310-892-2223. Hopefully with everyone on the look-out and a videotape of the incident, he'll be back in his new home soon. 

That's how we used to do it.

But now there are actual instructions on how to find a lost cat, courtesy of Associated Press and our fellow bloggers at Animal Crazy in Florida:

• Be positive the cat isn't in the house.
• If you think you know the cat's exit point, start there and think like a cat.
• Follow the cat's liekly paths and look for hiding places.
• Look nearby.
• Look down.
• Use a flashlight, even in daytime.
• If you find the hiding place, don't chase.
• If you spot the cat but can't get it to come to you, set up a human trap.
• If you've looked all over, don't give up.
• Put up posters.
• Hand out fliers.

Daizy is one lucky Texas dog.

Missing for 10 months after Hurricane Ike, she has been reunited with her family in Clear Lake.

KHOU in Houston has the story and a video. From the story:

The hurricane blew down Joe and Kathy Bauer's back fence, so they took Daizy and her Blue Lacy companion, Hank, to the Pet Palace in Webster for boarding until they could get the fence repaired.

"We ended up getting a call at 10 a.m. saying the dogs were both gone. Both of 'em," said Joe Bauer.

They found Hank that same day wandering in a wooded area behind the boarding kennel, but Daizy was gone.

"The kids would ask when it was freezing cold, when we had the snow, when we had the thunderstorms, they would say, 'Where is Daizy? What do you think she's doing? Is she OK?'" said Bauer.

Read the rest of the story at the link above.

(A Blue Lacy dog, by the way, was a new one to me.)  

OK, now we've heard it all.

Some guy who found a lost cocker spaniel-toy poodle mix named Pineapple calls the owner listed on the dog's ID tag and allegedly asks for sex in exchange for giving the dog back untortured.

Dude.

Turns out the suspect, Alfredo Dempkey, 27, is a registered sex offender in Hawthorne. He's headed for court this afternoon on extortion charges (watch for an update tomorrow on the arraignment at www.dailybreeze.com or buy Wednesday's paper) and Pineapple is safely back home with her 17-year-old owner who had the presence of mind to call her dad and the police when she received the telephone threat (he told the girl he would torture and make her dog suffer if she didn't comply)..

You can read the full story by crime reporter Larry Altman in today's Daily Breeze. 

"I think someone like that is sick," Pineapple's owner told Larry on Monday.

The girl was at work last Friday night when her dog wandered away from their Hawthorne home at about 7 p.m.

Later, Dempkey called the girl saying he had her dog and demanding she pay him $70 for Pineapple's return. She panicked, hung up, but he called her right back and asked her for "something else" if she didn't have the cash. He wanted her to meet him at the El Pollo Loco at Hawthorne Boulevard and Imperial Highway where he allegedly said he'd give her the dog back -- in exchange "for sex."

When Dempkey showed up with the dog in tow (this is the best part of the story), he was met by police who quickly took him into custody and returned Pineapple to her owner.

I've heard of scams where people will call folks who take out "lost dog" ads in the newspaper, claiming to have the animal in a distant location and asking for a large sum of money to cover the costs for return.

But this is a first.

And a last, we can only hope.

I found this post about a lost dog in San Pedro on former Daily Breeze colleague Diana Chapman's Underdog for Kids blog.

The dog, named Wolfie, was last seen at Angels Gate Park, 3601 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro, on April 19. From the blog:

Wolfie, a friendly sweet dog who loves children and animals, vanished from his home and his owner, Raven, has been on a desperate search for him.

Please keep your eyes wide-open to find "Wolfgang," who weighs about 50 pounds, is a golden-reddish color and was last seen in the park. He has the body of a golden retriever, the face of a husky and blue spots on his tongue. He's neutered and wears a black collar with his name, phone number and address on it. The owner has posted fliers all over town, so please be kind and help reunite these two friends. Email hartchap@cox.net with any info.

 

I was online at home this morning shortly after 9 a.m. when this email titled "gray and white border collie loose" came across my inbox:

Barbara is a neighbor of mine from a couple blocks away, she and her husband, Jim, have worked in dog and cat rescue for several years. At first I thought, Nah, Cowboy & Tess have been in the backyard all morning as usual (I'd just seen Tess inside the house briefly a few minutes earlier).

But something told me to double check. When I got out to the backyard, I found the side gate standing wide open and no Cowboy or Tess. The latch must have not caught well last night when I closed it from the outside and perhaps the strong winds were enough to blow it open.

Both Barbara and I went driving through the neighborhood separately. Nothing. You know that sinking feeling, like where could they have gone? I called several people in the neighborhood, asking them to just be on the look out. I stopped others on the street and in a local park, asking if they'd see the dogs. No one had.

But after about 30-45 minutes, I came across them about a block away from my house. They appeared to be having a grand time, but thankfully jumped into my car (Cowboy a little reluctantly and after a couple false passes at the open back door; he was having so much fun out there, after all). Barbara later told me she'd found someone who had seen the dogs and indicated that Tess ("the little one") started to come to them when called but held back because Cowboy wouldn't come. She seemingly didn't want to leave his side.

They both have tags with my phone # and are licensed and microchipped. But still, so much can happen to them when they're out like that.

So a special thanks to Barbara for alerting me. And, of course, to God to whom I regularly pray anyway, but did so especially fervently while looking for Cowboy and Tess! Whew.

  Remember Gizmo, the missing cat?

Well, he's home -- thanks to his owner's dedication, hard work and refusal to ever give up the search.

Gizmo isn't just any cat -- his owner claims that Gizmo has an uncanny ability to predict his heart attacks. That means getting vital medical help that much faster.

"He's sitting on my lap right now," said a very happy Steve Piel of Torrance when he called this afternoon to report Gizmo's return.

Gizmo was found two weeks to the day after he'd gone missing.

Piel searched every day and night for his 4-year-old lost cat, walking for hours on end and posting about 200 "Lost Cat" posters with photographs all over the neighborhood where he was last seen.

Last Friday, a couple kids called Piel and told him the pictures on the poster looked just like a cat they spotted on the roof of a house next door to them, about half a mile from where Gizmo was lost.

The people who owned the house were away on vacation but told Piel when he called that he was free to look around in the backyard.

"I kept hearing this cat crying," he said. He finally spotted Gizmo -- sitting up in a tree house.

I have to admit I was surprised.

But Piel wasn't. He said he always believed he'd find Gizmo.

Oh me of little faith.

As it turns out, he followed much of the advice found online about how to look for a lost pet, including knocking on doors, talking to people in the neighborhood, handing out fliers with the pet's picture and your phone number and checking local shelters.

(And while this wasn't a case of pet theft, there are some other good links with how to find missing pets included in our earlier post on that topic.)

Piel says he'll meet up with the kids who called with the tip to give them a reward.

Meanwhile, Gizmo appears to be in good health. Gizmo apparently found food during his two-week absence as the cat doesn't appear to have lost any weight.

But he's no doubt glad to be back home in the lap of luxury -- and with a devoted owner who never gave up hope of finding him and bringing him home. A very lucky cat.