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Dognapping of Twin Pugs May Be Linked to Dogfighting

Small Dogs Often Stolen for Use as "Bait"

By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.com

July 30, 2007

• Virginia Considers Dog-Fighting Law With Teeth • Missing Pug Returns as Baltimore Cracks Down on Dogfighting • Dognapping of Twin Pugs May Be Linked to Dogfighting • Pet Thefts Feed Dogfighting Craze --- • More about Pets ...

A Baltimore woman is convinced her Pugs are the victims of a dognapping scheme, and she is encountering many of the frustrations common in such cases.

Sherrie T. says someone stole her two Pugs--Ritchie and Thomas--from the backyard of her N.E. Baltimore home on Friday, July 20.

“My backyard is like Ft. Knox,” she says. “I have a four-foot wooden privacy fence. There’s no way my dogs could escape.”

Early Saturday morning, Sherrie posted flyers around her neighborhood about the missing dogs.

She also contacted the animal shelters in Baltimore, her veterinarian’s office, the Mid-Atlantic Pug Rescue organization, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

Her first break in the case came Saturday morning.

“Two teenagers saw me frantic and distraught walking the neighborhood and said they’d seen my dogs leaving a (nearby) house and being put into a black car,” Sherrie says. “They didn’t get a license plate on the car, though.”

Sherrie’s neighbors immediately took a flyer to that house, located in the 5100 block of Belair Road in Baltimore.

“Around 9:45 p.m. on Saturday, I got a call from a woman who said she had one of my dogs,” Sherrie says. “She said she wasn’t sure where my other dog was.”

Ransom Demand

Still missing: Thomas

Sherrie became suspicious when the caller demanded a reward for her dog’s safe return.

“I told her there was no reward because my dogs were stolen. I also told her there was a national search for my dogs and that some teenagers had seen my dogs taken from the house on Belair Road.

“The woman said she didn’t want any trouble--but wanted a reward--and claimed someone had taken the dogs to her mom’s house.”

The caller finally told Sherrie she could come and get her dog.

“But the address and phone number she gave me turned out to be bogus,” Sherrie says.

That’s when Sherrie contacted the Baltimore Police Department and asked officers to meet her in front of the Belair Road house--the last known location of her dogs.

On Monday morning, Sherrie made her fourth call to the police.

“I told them I was reporting some stolen property and that I had waited for them for three hours last night. Then I e-mailed my councilman, Nicholas D’Adamo. He called me at 9:30 Monday night.”

After talking to Sherrie, Councilman D’Adamo contacted the police.

“And the police immediately sent five patrol cars to the house on Belair Road,” Sherrie says. “That’s how they were able to locate the woman who called me and demanded a reward for my dogs.

“Her story to them is that she found the dogs walking the neighborhood and that my other dog was hit by a car. But she couldn’t say where that accident occurred.”

Baltimore police and the city's heatlh department have now formed an interagency task force that will more vigorously investigate dogfighting, city officials said late Friday.

Police Find Richie

Pressure from the police paid off. At 11:30 p.m. Monday, officers recovered one of Sherrie’s Pugs – Richie.

“The woman who called me had Richie in her possession. But she wasn’t at the Belair Road house when they retrieved him. She was at another house—not far away.”

Relief

“It’s wonderful. I think I finally stopped crying on Tuesday. I don’t have any more tears to cry.

“But Richie isn’t the same dog he was,” she says, adding she rescued both Pugs, who are twin brothers that have never been separated. “He’s not eating. And he keeps looking for Thomas. That’s why I keep taking him out in the neighborhood. He took me to a street we’ve never walked down before…he’s definitely on the search for Thomas.”

Search Continues

Happier Times: Thomas & Ritchie

Sherrie’s not giving up her search for Thomas, either. “I figure that if I got one of my dogs back, I’ll get the other one back, too.”

She continues to hang up flyers, contact the local shelters, and pound the pavement--convinced that Thomas is somewhere in the neighborhood.

“Someone said they thought they saw a dog jump out the window of that black car,” Sherrie says, adding both her Pugs have microchips that can be used to identify them. They also had collars and tags when they were stolen, but Richie’s was missing when he returned.

“I think Thomas is somewhere nearby. I think maybe the woman who had Richie has Thomas, too. Of the two, it’s probably better that Thomas is the one still missing. He’s the tougher of the two.”

“A Mysterious Disappearance”

Baltimore police told ConsumerAffairs.com they’re handling this case as the “mysterious disappearance” of two dogs.

A spokesman said there are no eyewitnesses who saw the Pugs being stolen. He also said there’s no evidence the woman who had Richie stole the dog. Authorities, he added, have not charged anyone in connection with the case.

A Problem in Baltimore

Councilman D’Adamo told us he’s happy Sherrie recovered at least one of her dogs.

“I hope and pray she gets her other dog back. I wish we could do more,” he said.

When asked if Baltimore has a dognapping problem, Councilman D’Adamo said: “It happens a lot. We have a problem with Pit Bull fighting. In the last two years, Pit Bull fighting has become big on the entire East Coast.”

The U.S. Humane Society and other animal rights organizations say dogs are often stolen and used as “bait” to train Pit Bulls.

“But police can never catch those involved,” Councilman D’Adamo said of the problem in his city. “It’s hard to say who is doing it. We see the animals when they’re dead--after the fact. They’re holding these fights in places where no one is around.”

D’Adamo said no one comes forward with information about these dog fighting cases--or other violent crimes.

“We’re the second most violent city in the country,” he said. “We have people killed on the street every day. But people don’t want to get involved. It’s sad. We shouldn’t live like this.”

Of the recovery of Sherrie’s dog, Richie, he said: “It is amazing that she got one of her dogs back.”

In the meantime, anyone with information about Sherrie’s missing Pug—Thomas—should contact the Baltimore Police Department’s N.E. Division at 1-410-396-2444;

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