This is from a Pem/Cardi person in Spokane. Good to post to any lists that might have WA/ID people on it. They suspected the dogs were taken for dog fighting bait or illegally-obtained medical research. It happened a few days ago. Please take appropriate precautions for your pets, wherever you live.

I keep a combination lock on my gate. Honestly, the combination lock is a pain, especially at night, because it's hard to see how to turn the dial to the right numbers. (My outside light doesn't cast enough light toward the gate.) But I thought it was a better bet than the old padlock I'd been using. I ditched the padlock after Pearl locked me out of the house when I went outside to get the mail through the front door and had to climb over the back fence because I didn't have the key to the padlock on the gate with me. One ripped pair of pants later and I thought a combination lock seemed like a good idea.

Wherever you live, please keep an eye out for suspicioius people in your neighborhood. If you do see people "collecting" dogs, ask to see identification and contact your local animal control to verify whether or not they are acting with their authority. If you hear about dognappings, let your neighbors know and contact your local media so others can be alert.

I think it's hard to say whether or not you should leave your dogs outside when you're not home. For some people it's just not possible to leave dogs indoors all day while they're at work. Some dogs can be very destructive and if they are indoors they might have to spend all day crated, something which most of us prefer not to do if we have an alternative. I know if I put my dogs up in the house, and don't let them outside while I'm away from home for a few hours, I can come home to half-destroyed mini-blinds. Even when the damage isn't intentional, the dogs try to get in the windows to look out and see me leaving or watch for me to come home. Other dogs can go a little wild when their owners are gone. I had an Irish Setter bitch who used to have a party when I left the house. I would come home to find books shredded, tapes strewn all over the house, and she even dug nests into the sofa cushions. (She was a dog who needed to be crated.) Many dogs do better if they can stay outside when their owners aren't home, but then you run into the problem of your dogs possibly barking and getting into trouble while you're away…or someone possibly trying to steal them. It's a hard call.

If your dog can stay indoors when you're not home and behaves well, consider yourself lucky. But, as you will see in the story below, these owners were home when their dogs were stolen. It was the middle of the night and the dogs were taken right out of their fenced yard. You have to be careful at all times.

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I'm going to post this to multiple lists so apologies in advance. This is
one of those situations where you think "it couldn't happen to me".
Well it almost did.

I live in a good neighborhood in Spokane. We live a couple blocks off a
major road but our road is quiet and seems safe. I have a 4 1/2 to 7
foot chain link fence (really high in the back because of the alley)
with a padlocked gate in back and the other gate in front, clipped,
right outside the window by our computers. The yard sits back from
the street. There is still a bit of snow and ice in our yard and the
neighboring ones - but not enough for the dogs to climb. And while
Wally is athletic and could probably climb a fence - Hannah is a slug
and can't jump easily on the couch or in the car.

My husband wasn't feeling good last night so got up at about 3:15. The
cardigans said "oh it's time to go OUT!" so he let them out to potty
while he sat at the computer reading email. About 3:25 he heard ONE
single bark so he got up to let the dogs back in. No dogs.

Well it hadn't ever happened before but he thought they just got out. He
ran up and down a couple blocks then jumped in the car and did the
neighborhood grid. No dogs.He came back to the house at about 5 when I
was getting up (and got REALLY mad he didn't wake me up right away).
We both canvassed the neighborhood, worried about the major road a
couple blocks away where the morning traffic was starting. No dogs.

I came back and checked the gate and fenceline. Secure and no doggie
footprints in the snow (which was melted only by our gate. The dogs,
while cute, are not too good at opening, reclosing, and clipping gates
- they have no thumbs.

Of course by this time I am frantic inside but managing to hold together. I
call mom for microchip numbers, call the emergency clinic nearby and
leave the info, call Denise (the localish rescue contact who didn't
seem too mad I called her at 6:15am thank dog!) in case someone picked
them up and calls her, make a flyer and quick lost post to Craigslist.

Hubby goes back out in the car. At 6:50ish he is driving slowly and passes
an old truck with a homemade pigwire cage in the bed. It has Idaho
plates (Spokane is probably 30 miles from Idaho).There's a rather mean
dog in the front of the truck. He's got the window down and whistling
and WALLY pops his head up in the back of that truck. Of course he
stops right away! The guys are out of their truck and going different
directions both towards yards with dogs in them…

The men - both rough sounding in jeans and flannels tell Henry that they
found our dogs (and the other 4 in the bed/cage of the truck)
wandering loose and that they work for the local county animal
control. When he tells them that those are OUR dogs they hand them
right over, don't want any info or verify it and leave very quickly.
Back of truck is just full of dog poops (yes they had to have baths,
it was that awful).

Sounds all wrong to me….of course we were SO happy the dogs were safe that
we didn't think at first but then Henry called Spokanimal (who they
claimed to work
for) and they confirmed that they don't have anyone canvassing
neighborhoods at night AND this truck has been seen on video with
people taking dogs out of the overnight drop box there. WHAT!?!? Why
haven't we heard of this!!! Not a thing in the media. The police are
investigating….

Our thought - and I had blown off all the reports of dogs being stolen that
I had heard - is that the dogs were taken for either dog bait or the
rumored medical
testing facility in Couer d'Alene. FWIW I don't know but I do know my
yard was secure and my dogs will go with anybody. Tomorrow I'm going
to contact some media and see what kind of stink I can make.

So if you have friends in this area, or hear of things like missing
dogs going up sharply in other areas, don't discount it. Spread the
word. I am putting a real
padlock on the front gate and the dogs are only out under our watchful
gaze for now.

And thank dog this all turned out OK for my dogs… I don't know about the
others in the truck and feel awful now that I know more. I thought I
was in a safe area with our neighboorhood watch and quiet street…

Mandy
Spokane, WA

And permission is of course given to crosspost about our experience and tell
your friends

This entry was posted on Monday, March 3rd, 2008 at 6:43 am and is filed under For Our Dogs' Sake. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.