My heart goes out to all the people who have lost their dog or have had it stolen.
I have two Jack Russells and would never dream of tying them to the railings outside a supermarket or all of other places. I have seen so many people doing just that despite the fact that so many dogs are stolen every day. Both of mine are micro chipped and wear collars with a disk which have my name and telephone number on them. I was advised not to put the dogs name on them as apparently if someone takes them and calls them by their names the dogs wouldn’t be scared.
In fact I knew a woman who tied her spaniel outside a supermarket while she popped in for a couple of things only to come back to find her dog gone. It just takes a matter of minutes for thieves to untie the lead and disappear.
Luckily she got him back because someone had found him wandering around alone. Obviously he wasn’t behaving or for some reason the thieves decided to dump him. Luckily the people who found him took him to the police station and thanks to micro-chipping they were able to trace the owner and all ended well.
I once had a horrible experience. I went to work and came back at lunchtime only to find my dogs gone. I had a cleaning lady at that time who didn’t speak English too well. When I asked her where the dogs were she told me a tall man had knocked on the door and said I had asked him to take them. She could not give any other description of the man.
I immediately rang a close friend who I used to meet every morning in the park walking his dogs for exercise before going to work.
John firmly told me to stay at home and he would round up all our pals and get them to scour the streets and parks because they knew Jessie and Juba very well. Meanwhile I called the police. I can only say they were brilliant. A policewoman came around about 20 minutes after my call, by which time I was in floods of tears. She asked for a picture of them and she also too told me to stay at home in case anyone tried to contact me.
Suddenly I remembered the kennels that I used when I was away working. I had booked the dogs in provisionally for a week but never called them to confirm it as my trip was cancelled. I rang the kennels but their phone was not working. The kennels were in Arundel and they collected dogs from all over London while the owners had a holiday or a special occasion where dogs were not allowed.
I tried ringing him at the kennels but there was no answer. I rang the police in Arundel and asked them if they could go the kennels and find someone who knew the number of the mobile belonging to the owner of the kennels who was collecting dogs that day.
Yes many people thought I was wasting police time but they were my babies and I would have done anything to get them back. In the event they drove there and did find a member of staff at the kennel who had the owners mobile number.
When they gave it to me I called and found to my joy that they had stopped nearby in London to give the dogs some water and check if they were alright. I jumped into my car and was there in 5 minutes flat.
There were many apologises from the man in charge when I pointed out that I had not confirmed the booking. Suffice it to say that my dogs have never been to those kennels again. Instead I found a wonderful spritely pensioner who loved dogs, so they went to stay with him if I went away.
I was so lucky to find my babies and my heart goes out to all owners who have lost their dogs. I just hope that they have a happy ending like me.I have donated to the Police Charity because they were so kind to me. I hope that this donation will make up for the time they spent helping me find my dogs.
Jane Buckle
