# Stolen dogs.



## Megan Berry (Jul 19, 2010)

Both of my mali girls are missing, and I think they might have been stolen, despite the fact that I live in the middle of nowhere. I let them out in the yard to potty about 3am and when I went to bring them in around 7:15 to go to work they were gone. No sign of them anywhere, and no opened gates.


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## maggie fraser (May 30, 2008)

How high is your fence ? When you say you live in the middle of nowhere, do you mean you have no neighbours ? 

Hope you get them back real soon.


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## Joby Becker (Dec 13, 2009)

how old are the dogs? how high is the fence?

I have had 125lb+ dogs that could easily get over a 6 foot fence, with bad hips....To most mals a fence is nothing, if they want over it for some reason...and realize they can get over it...


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## Dave Colborn (Mar 25, 2009)

are they in heat?

I have had one dog, my old lady dog now, stay gone for 12-24 hours running in the woods when she was younger. She ran with a pack before I got her and she would just bail sometimes. 

Hopefully it is something that simple.


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## Kelly Godwin (Jul 25, 2011)

Megan Berry said:


> Both of my mali girls are missing, and I think they might have been stolen, despite the fact that I live in the middle of nowhere. I let them out in the yard to potty about 3am and when I went to bring them in around 7:15 to go to work they were gone. No sign of them anywhere, and no opened gates.


Sorry to hear that. I hope they just decided to jump the fence and return very soon. I could not imagine losing one of our dogs.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

_Brief notes from organizing a couple of searches for stolen/lost dogs:_

I'd go to all area shelters with photos and your contact info. Also, don't rely on their contact procedure -- call or go every day. 

I'd contact the area vets and go to their front desks with photos.

Do you have any neighbors? Have you gone door to door (not alone -- in pairs)?

Are there any kids in the neighborhood? I think they often see and know more than adults.**

When you put up signs (with "REWARD" on them), you want to put up both driver-height as well as pedestrian height.

Can you get something in the Sunday paper (again, with "REWARD" in the text)?


Good luck.




** A successful search for a dog who went under a fence a few years ago ended when a door-to-door yielded nothing, but when the pair of volunteers left a certain house ("No, haven't seen him"), two kids on the street said "Your dog is in that house." 

The kids had not missed the fact that the occupants suddenly had a dog to take outside for potty, and they confirmed his identity from the photo. (The people had taken the dog in rather than actually stolen him, and they just wanted to keep him. :sad: )


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## Mo Earle (Mar 1, 2008)

so sorry about your dogs- hopefully you will get them back soon....in addition to Connie's suggestions- if you have a Craigslist in your area- get the info on there too--


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

check with ALL outfits that do vehicle deliveries in the area
newspaper carriers, post office, ups, fedex, bus companies, home repairs and construction companies too, etc etc

tracks around the house ? police report and press the possible stolen angle if you want a response/search - 

signs of climbing ? all the stuff u have probably already done and thoroughly checked - do it again

spend all your time out. i would check early AM and PM when they are more likely to move roam

look for the water sources they will need - gotta drink even tho they might not eat for a bit

look for places cat food might be left out they might scavenge and ask the cat owners too

ask and check with all the other dog owners.....the backyard barkers will be good to know in this kinda situation; so hope ur on good terms w/ your neighbors

ask whoever would pick up road kill if that bad possibility happened
intact ? 

other intact animals around that might attract them

do the dogs have dog friends they would "visit" ?

are the dogs people // animal friendly and/or social ? that would affect the way i search

if in the middle of nowhere, stick reward signs on posts at major intersections where people might stop...stands out more that way

don't know you so don't know how many of these would apply ... sorry

good luck


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Connie Sutherland said:


> (The people had taken the dog in rather than actually stolen him, and they just wanted to keep him. :sad: )


This is why I put "needs meds" on all my dog (and cat) tags to try to discourage people from doing this. Joint supplements and monthly heartworm stuff are meds, right? 

Megan, good luck with your on going search. Petfinder.com also has a classified section for lost pets.


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## Brian Anderson (Dec 2, 2010)

Megan that is terrible. I hope ya'll find them in good order. Sooner rather than later.


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## Martine Loots (Dec 28, 2009)

This is terrible... Hope you get them back soon.


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## Megan Berry (Jul 19, 2010)

Bolide really does need meds, she has valley fever. They didn't have ID on their collars because they slip collars so often. This whole thing has me just sick... All I can hope is that whoever has them doesn't beat them when they eat their couch or something.


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## Alison Grubb (Nov 18, 2009)

You should also get in touch with the newspapers and radio stations. Some offer free services for lost/stolen animal reports.

I hope you find them. My dogs being stolen is one of my big fears.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Alison Grubb said:


> You should also get in touch with the newspapers and radio stations. Some offer free services for lost/stolen animal reports.


EXCELLENT idea. I know they do that here.

Of course, the faster, the better.


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## maggie fraser (May 30, 2008)

Megan Berry said:


> Bolide really does need meds, she has valley fever. They didn't have ID on their collars because they slip collars so often. This whole thing has me just sick... All I can hope is that whoever has them doesn't beat them when they eat their couch or something.


One of your mal girls only has one eye now yeah ? You also have an aussie mix and a husky, did they not alert at all ? Could they have climbed the fence ? you haven't addressed any of the questions posed here on the thread, you're just positive they have been stolen ?


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## Joby Becker (Dec 13, 2009)

is there a fence?


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## Anna Kasho (Jan 16, 2008)

So sorry, I hope you will get them back!

You did not hear a commotion at night? My dogs would be raising hell if a stranger was near the property...

Anyone hanging around that didn't belong in the area? Tracks? Anyone seem overly interested in the dogs, or critical of the way you keep or train them?

The dogs could hop a 6' fence if really motivated, I don't doubt. 

Great search suggestions, I really don't have much to add. Advertise as much as possible, talk to any neighbors, Make flyers emphasizing "reward" and their illness (eye injury? Valley fever?) that would hopefully make them appear less valuable. Search the area yourself, drive around. Some dogs hang nearby and hide, although a motivated running dog can get 10-20-30 miles away fairly quickly... Get newspaper ads, online, craigslist, etc. Get the flyers out, on the streets, personally take them to vets, trainers, any dog friendly businesses in the area. Dog walkers are a good resource, anyone out with dogs will pay attention to a loose stray if they see it. You can mail out the flyers going by business listings, but if you do, it also helps to at least call and talk to the business owners to get notice - often mailed flyers get overlooked along with the junk mail. Check shelters in person, try to talk to all the workers, show flyer/pics, and keep checking daily - shelters do not keep a database of lost dogs and do not bother to look through the lost-dog forms they let you fill out each time they get a dog in. Get the word out to every "rescue" you can find, they do not have a central database and are not sharing info with each other - if your dog is given to one, it disappears off the map, may come up in petfinder listings for adoption, if you're lucky.

There are much worse things people steal dogs for, than beating them for shredding a couch, I won't get into that.

Be prepated for a ton of calls about not your dog, and a lot of maybe's that don't pan out. Keep searching, don't give up.

Good luck.


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

re: "All I can hope is that whoever has them doesn't beat them when they eat their couch or something."

you have had a pretty good response so far from people who have shown they are concerned and offered ways of helping
... maybe you're just trying to keep from freaking out by joking, but i don't consider that the kind of two way comms that keeps anyone informed of what you are doing

keep that train of thought and i might ask you why they had four hours outside to take a dump, plus it sounds like they don't get to spend the nights out alone 
....as far as slipping collars.....no, i better not get into that one til they get back home 

anyway try and post some updates and keep it a two way thread
every one hates to lose a dog like that, let alone two
good luck
p.s. can they clear the palisade ??


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## maggie fraser (May 30, 2008)

Why would anyone want to steal a one eyed mali who doesn't even bark apparently when out living in the middle of nowhere ??

I'm not getting this here at all, something not smelling quite right, particularly your response to perhaps them eating someone's couch and getting a smack being your only hope. My sincerest apologies if I have it all wrong, once again I hope you get them back safe and soon if that's what you want.


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## Anna Kasho (Jan 16, 2008)

Wanted to add, but ran out of time - a scared running dog often gets into a kind of "survival mode" feral mindset, they do not react as you may expect, or remember any commands, or be social/friendly as they used to at home, etc, etc. They may not even recognise you... Be prepared that you may have to corner/catch them if they are running loose and panicked.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Megan, are you doing all the steps listed here?

The sooner and the faster, the better.


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## Joby Becker (Dec 13, 2009)

Do all you can to find them, do all the things listed.

I know this is gonna sound heartless, but the whole I think they were stolen thing, seems like a defense mechanism you are using to shield yourself. It is highly unlikely that someone came onto your property in the dead of night looking to steal your dogs...

The same as someone saying that their dog was obviously abused in the past, because it is fearful, or a careless owner who blames the driver of a vehicle that has hit their dog on the roadway.

From the looks of your pics, you live in very rural area, with a decent sized property, the fences do not look dog-proof by any standards. Many dogs disappear from these types of properties, and very few are "stolen". They either see something to chase, or wander off...

Hopefully someone does find them and take them in, better than them running out in the wild...or even better they just come back...

hope it works out for you, and if and when you get them back, I would invest in a large secure kennel to put them in, when they cannot be supervised, if theft is a concern, put locks on it...I for one do not know of anyone that wants to steal a one-eyed dog, unless you or the dogs really pissed someone off....


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## Thomas Jones (Feb 4, 2011)

Its not like a pit bull. There bad to get stolen from what I hear. If I go to feed mine at night they growl until I say something. Just to see what they'd do I sent somebody to there pen one night to see what they'd do and they went ballistic. I would think a mal would be the same since there supposed to be better. I hope you find them.


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## Megan Berry (Jul 19, 2010)

Sorry if I haven't been very responsive to this thread, I have been trying to get the word out to as many people as I can, and have been driving around the desert looking for them in 'likely' areas as well. (cattle watering holes, clusters of houses with other dogs, river bottoms, newly watered farm fields, etc).

I don't doubt that they got out of the yard on their own, but I do believe that someone may have picked them up. The only time they were out on their own before was when the gate was pushed open, and it was for about an hour, and they were hot and tired, and very glad to be back when they came dragging butt back in. 

My comment about the couch thing wasn't very clear, I apologize. What I meant was that if someone picked them up thinking, "Ooh, look at the pretty German Shepherds!" and decided to leave them in their house for any length of time, the dogs were likely to destroy the place, as they are used to being crated. If someone isn't used to dogs like that, it would kill me to know that they might be in a situation where someone could lose their temper and beat them or throw them back out on the street because of it. Basically, people suck, so I'm worried for them, and who might pick them up. ](*,) At least if they go to the pound they will get returned because they are microchipped.

The dogs did bark when they went out, but they bark because the people on the next property over (my grandmother, actually) take their dogs out at all odd hours to potty on a leash, because they have no fence at all. We do have plans to build a dog run for them, but it just hasn't been in the funds yet. If/when I get them back, they will be leash only for potty until we get it built.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

I'd get on the phone with all vets and shelters asap, and get posters up.

What a horrible feeling, to have a dog missing .... never mind two. :sad:


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## Joby Becker (Dec 13, 2009)

also put signs everywhere close where people go, restaurants, stores, and on the roadways...

I pick up every loose dog I see, if I have the time..

I used to tie them out by a doghouse in my yard, with a sign that says LOST DOG HERE...

At this place, I take them to A/C or have them pick them up...sometimes even if I know whos dog it is, if I have seen the dog running around more than once or twice...I just caught a GSD last week that I found running on a busy street and took it to A/C... I have brought the dog back to the people 2 times before, this time I took it to A/C...

call everyday...


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## Laney Rein (Feb 9, 2011)

Here in Maricopa they won't tell you on the phone if a dog was brought in. They require you to drive and check.

Megan, did you ever get hold of your trainer? Of course, I don't see someone way out there just to take dogs, but who knows.

If you can't make it to A/C during the day, I can make a couple trips up there for you.

Mali lost in Surprise was lost and they put ads on craigs and dog was found at A/C after someone saw it there.

Good luck.


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## Alison Grubb (Nov 18, 2009)

When you get the dogs back...if there is a Tractor Supply near you you might want to go check them out. I just got a 10x10 kennel for less than $600. The bulldog I have in there has been brutal on some other kennels as well as a good chain setup but this kennel is suiting him just fine. Both of us couldn't be happier.

I am tight on money too, but for me peace of mind was WELL worth the cash I dropped on that kennel.


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Connie Sutherland said:


> I'd get on the phone with all vets and shelters asap, and get posters up.


I second this. Since they're microchipped, ask the vet clinics in the area if they can discreetly scan anything that comes in looking like your dogs.


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## Anna Kasho (Jan 16, 2008)

Another suggestion, as you are driving around looking in likely places, leave something with your scent for them to find. Piece of old worn t-shirt, etc. Throw a handful of kibble out too if that is what you feed them. Sometimes lost dogs will find the familiar scent and stick around.


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## maggie fraser (May 30, 2008)

Any news or feedback yet ?


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## ann schnerre (Aug 24, 2006)

Maren Bell Jones said:


> I second this. Since they're microchipped, ask the vet clinics in the area if they can discreetly scan anything that comes in looking like your dogs.


when my dog was lost (and i live "in the middle of nowhere" as well), i contacted clinics and shelters in a 100 mile radius. every vet clinic stated that if someone shows up with a new dog, they ALWAYS do discreet scan.

i also walked ditches/minimum maintenance roads/railroad right-of-ways, talked to neighbors, etc. good luck with your search, i hope they come back safe and sound-the pain of not knowing what happened is virtually unbearable.


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## kenneth roth (Jul 29, 2010)

i got a suggesten can the members of WDF that have dogs trained in tracking track your dogs scent?


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## mel boschwitz (Apr 23, 2010)

Kenneth, there are people who have dogs who are trained to trail after lost pets. They are a specialty, like trailing wounded game or human. Rule of thumb is that you train on one "type" of scent and nothing else, although I am sure there are some who do train on more than one type of scent. I am sure no serious SAR or LEO trailer would use their dog on anything but human scent. Unfortunately those who train their dogs for trailing lost pets are few.


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

Megan, I'm sorry to hear that your dogs are missing. I don't know that this will be useful to you given the circumstances but when I was a kid I lost my Pitbull twice. The first time I foolishly attached her line to a grill while I took a picture of her. You know how kids are, the attention span and understanding of consequence is basically zero. So what did I do? I called her to me after I took the picture. The grill came crashing down off the porch and onto her. She took off running down the street with the lid still attached to her lead. Anyway, I looked all over for her in the tiny rural town I lived in then one day I rode my bike over to my Grandma's property which had a pond on it and nothing else. I was messing around in the field with a friend and what do I hear but something charging through the grass after me. Much to my relief it was my dog. It never occurred to me that she'd eventually end up some place I had taken her many times before.

The other time I lost her she had been on a chain that unhooked from it's stake point. It was in the middle of winter so I followed the chain mark as far as I could but lost sight of it when it hit hard pack. It was probably two days later when I searched behind a barn that had some empty dog houses and there was my dog, chain still on with her head about 6" from the ground as it was wrapped around a pole in the ground. It's amazing that I found her alive.

The last time I lost my dogs (I'm an adult at this point) was went they broke a hole in the fence and ended up at the airport. Whether or not they somehow knew I worked out that way I cannot say but I really cannot figure out why else they would have ended up over there. I mean what dog leaves it's yard only to end up at the airport?

My only point in this, other than I was a bit of an irresponsible kid, is that you might get some benefit in looking around places you have taken them previously.


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## Laney Rein (Feb 9, 2011)

UPDATE: I spoke with Megan today and she was able to recover one of her dogs, the younger one, Abby. I may have this wrong, but I think she said she had put flyers up all over. Somehow, she found out or saw her dog with kids at a bus stop for school right near a flyer. Later that day, a lady called her and told her she thought she had or knew where the dog was - after she had seen the flyers. Megan told her she had found Abby - and it was right by this lady's house. I know, I'm not making much sense. The important part is that she got one of the dogs back. This one was a couple miles from home.

The one that lost it's eye due to the rattlesnake is still at large.


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## Chris McDonald (May 29, 2008)

Laney Rein said:


> UPDATE: I spoke with Megan today and she was able to recover one of her dogs, the younger one, Abby. I may have this wrong, but I think she said she had put flyers up all over. Somehow, she found out or saw her dog with kids at a bus stop for school right near a flyer. Later that day, a lady called her and told her she thought she had or knew where the dog was - after she had seen the flyers. Megan told her she had found Abby - and it was right by this lady's house. I know, I'm not making much sense. The important part is that she got one of the dogs back. This one was a couple miles from home.
> 
> The one that lost it's eye due to the rattlesnake is still at large.


The one with the missing eye will be back its just walking in a big circle


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## vicki dickey (Jul 5, 2011)

I am glad to hear they were not stolen after all. On the evening news in our area they were warning people about dogs being stolen. I have a lock on our gate but now I do not let them out without keeping a watch on them.


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## mike finn (Jan 5, 2011)

Chris McDonald said:


> The one with the missing eye will be back its just walking in a big circle


 You have some real problems. Did you not get any attention as a kid?


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

Megan
what's the latest update and how did you get your one dog back ?


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