[pyrnet] CHAT: FW: Stolen dogs cross posted with permission

["Barb Bowes" <bamb@monmouth.com>]

Subject: HEADS UP RE STOLEN DOGS

THE FOLLOWING IS POSTED WITH PERMISSION . PLEASE CROSSPOST TO ANY
OTHER
LARGE BREED LISTS EXCEPT ANY MASTIFF LIST AS THE OWNER OF THE
DOGS
INVOLVED WILL DO SO HERSELF .

This is long, but it is better to hear the whole story because
the
series of events leading to the dogs recovery
  are so unbelievable.  As you all know by now, 2 adult mastiffs
and 2
2-week old pups were stolen from the
  owners home in July. The dogs were owned/co-owned by myself
(living
near Gaylord, MN) and my friend
  Susan who lives near Rochester, MN.  The dogs actually resided
with
Susan near Rochester.  Despite all of the
  efforts of a ton of wonderful people, a lot we have never met,
no sign
of them.  He really had given up hope.
  Than, on Monday evening my 18 year old daughter Charity calls
me and
says mom, I stopped in to visit a
  friend I hadn't seen for a couple of months that moved from a
tiny
town near us to another tiny town, Buffalo
  Lake, MN, and were renting a farm house there.  The friends
neighbor,
(known hereinafter as pond scum) who
  apparantly was social with her and her boyfriend had stopped in
to
visit and inquire if they wanted a couple of
  dogs he was giving away that he didn't want anymore.  They were
English Mastiffs.  The two kids that were
  renting the place (my daughters friends) said they didn't but
knowing
that I had Mastiffs told Charity to tell me
  about it.  Since I had recently joined Mastiff Rescue, I
thought I
should check it out and if they were indeed
  mastiffs, contact Rescue and see how to proceed.  The kids
commented
that he had hundreds of dogs, lions
  and tigers and bears, oh my,   (pardon the humor), bobcats etc.
so I
immediately think, puppy mill, not 25
  minutes from my house.  So I pick up my daughter and her
boyfriend and
we stop at the friends house to get
  directions to the suspected mill.  We stop in and I knocked at
the
door for awhile as there were a number of
  vehicles on the premises and no one answers.  So we thought we
would
just looked at the pens of dogs as we
  left.  It was very, very bad.  A LOT of dogs besides the wild
animals.  Great Danes, Mastiffs, Neopolitan
  Mastiffs, Cane Corsos, Presa Canarios (sp?) Afghans, Dogie D.
Bordeaux
etc.  "High ticket dogs" as the police
  called it.  As we were viewing the place my daughters boyfriend
inquired if we had located our stolen dogs and
  I told him they were gone for good.    I said there is a
mastiff in
that kennel over there let's drive closer and look
  at him.  Maybe it is one he is giving away.  I said he looks a
lot
like our stud, coloring, head, shape of his legs.
  Even has that same crooked ear.  Than it hit me like a ton of
bricks,
it was Clyde!  I opened the window and
  called to him and he wiggled and danced.  Than he turned and
there was
the scar.  We peeled out of there and
  I tried to call Sue on the cell but COULDN'T remember her
number I was
so shook and couldn't remember the
  name of the little town she lived by so I could call
information.  I
went to the police who notified the police in
  the county where we had filed the stolen report who than called
Meeker
County where I had seen Clyde.  I had
  a call from a Meeker county invesitgator before I got home
asking
where I had been as I had no idea of this
  guys name.  After I described the place they immediately knew
where I
had been.  They were very thankful I
  had played it cool and not grabbed Clyde.  Cool, hell, I was so
in
shock and I can barely remember the drive
  home.  If I had been thinking straight I would have grabbed
him!!!
Well, good thing I didn't.  He gathered
  information on the dogs, got versed on DNA, micro chipping, got
a
reader and a search warrant as they said he
  knows his rights and if you just go out there, Clyde could
disappear
while you were getting the warrant.  After
  3 tense days, (one day lost when a major typo on the search
warrant
was detected that made it useless in
  court) I got the call Friday at 11 a.m. that they had not only
found
Clyde but Sammi and the puppies!!!   I called
  Sue who left Rochester for the 2 1/2 hour drive to our place
and
headed for the police station where I found 2
  dogs that were very, very happy to see me.  They were gone
about a
month, but not in very good condition.
  Clyde is the worst.  Very, very thin, losing his coat in large
handfuls, no muscle left at all.  His ribs and all
  vertebrae very prominent.  Both puppies were ill.  Sue and I
met at my
vets where we treated the pups and
  when I opened the door of the pickup and they saw Sue, there
was no
stopping those two!!  I cried more than
  once that day!!  The dogs got stuck in the doorway getting into
Sue
Suburban.  Sue called today and the dogs
  are very starved. (obviously)   She has to get them back into
food
gradually, their stools are horrendous and
  Clyde is lethargic and isn't "talking" like he used to.  I do
believe
that will come back.  The thief?  He is
  supposed to be in jail this weekend and Sues county is pressing
charges.  What will stick?  We don't know
  yet.  He was not there and they could not reach him when they
executed
the search, so they left him a copy of
  the search warrant on the door and a note.  What clinched it
and will
give them a case?  The micro chip.  They
  were very impressed with identification procedures we dog
people use.
They can finally attempt to charge him
  with something and make it stick.  (we hope)    Now, the
connection.
This guy is 3 hours from Sue and 25
  minutes from me.  (little did he know he stole a dog with a
co-owner
nearby.)  He had to drive right past my
  house with the dogs!  Creepy.  He is ORIGINALLY from the
Rochester, MN
area, with his home place not 6
  miles from Sue.  He was in the area the night the dogs
disappeared.
He is about 40 years old and she might
  even know him if not by name by face.  The police are also
looking
into the possible connection between him
  and the disappearance of a large number of large dogs from the
area
about 4 years ago when he started up his
  dog business at his new location near my home.  So, if anyone
had a
dog of any of the breeds I mentioned
  stolen over the last couple of years from MN or WI, especially
the
Rochester/Austin area, we can strengthen
  this case by contacting Doug Pomplun at 320-523-1161 or e-mail
doug_p@co.renville.mn.us  They COULD
  NOT scan the other dogs there as they did not have a search
warrant to
do so or probable cause.  They felt it
  would have jeopordized this case.  This is a long shot for
other
people with missing dogs, but what were the
  odds of the sequence of events that led to the recovery of
Clyde,
Sammi and the babies?  (I think I'm going to
  buy a lottery ticket!)  There are a lot of other dogs out there
that
could use help.  The investigator will help
  with paperwork for the AKC to get something going there as
well.  If
nothing else, we will keep the pond scum
  busy so he doesn't have time to be stealing family pets.
---