Posted on 07/02/2011 9:49:45 PM PDT by getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL
In a nutshell:
Back in May, a friend of my daughter agreed to dog-sit our 1.5 year old sweet dog while we traveled to NJ to visit my father (who has metastatic cancer and heart ailments/surgical defibrillator). For weeks prior to our trip, we were reassured this family would not be traveling over the 4th of July holiday, and that the dog-sitting was still on.
Our trip was to commence on or around the 24th of June; we fly standby non-revenue. In the 48 or so hours prior, we were informed that due to a conflict in their schedule, the family of the dog-sitter wanted us to drop off our dog early on Thursday am. (even though our plans changed to a Saturday departure.). We offered different drop-off times -- even days to work with their schedule, but they were insistent for some reason.
The sitter's mom ultimately came on the phone to explain she was heading out for the weekend -- to visit her mother and family 90 minutes away, but that they were going to take good care of our dog...she'd be with their dogs...I tried to be understanding, but of course I was crushed to see our baby off sooner than we needed. We were told they'd return home on Sunday, the 26th. Our dog has never traveled, so we felt horrible for allowing this. But since this family watched our dog last year, we felt like we could trust their word.
During our trip, we rec'd usually a text message every day from the ds (dog-sitter). Only dog-lovers & owners who understand the special bond between canine and human will truly understand.
Ffw to yesterday. We notified the sitter that we were coming home on Sat (today) and we continued to keep her updated. Upon arrival in Dallas, we didn't hear anything until two or three hours after landing. The father called us, telling us they were in another state - in the north/northeastern U.S.
Huh?
According to the dad, his wife's mother had suddenly fallen ill, and so as to not worry us, they took our dog to Ohio without notifying us. My husband would have flown back to TX had we known of their situation. Flabbergasted, scared, intimidated and shocked, I offered sincere condolences about his m-i-l...I can truly relate given my own father's poor health - and asked the obvious question -- when would we get to see our dog/when would they be back home... I was told, "I don't know. Some time next week."
But now wait -- I thought that her mother lived 90 miles away?
After hanging up the phone, my husband and daughter stared at me, wondering what was going on. Fortunately, a clearer head prevailed and my husband decided he would fly tomorrow to wherever the family was, so he could retrieve our dog. The dog-sitter's father adamantly opposed - and told my husband that their location was none of our business - that our dog was being loved on, and that they'd be home next week.
Have any of you ever heard of anything like this happening?
Add an innocent 12yo dd with Asperger's to the picture who needs her dog back. We just can't believe we weren't told at any point, the truth about our dog's location. And we would be happy to go and get her, but the family is refusing to tell us where they are.
So now what?
Thanks guys.
two words - chip implant - aka low jack for pets. You could get the location of your dog at any time and go get it.
If you have the telephone number that they called from, can’t you search for thee address ?
I’d board the dog locally in the future.
get the dog back asap... something is strange... u’d be crazy to wait a week.. try to use people search to find addresses
By any chance is your dog a healthy male worth a few bucks. I am wondering if they aren’t offering breeding services of your pooch.
I completely agree about boarding your dog at a kennel. You can find many many great kennels that offer all levels of service.
I know that my family would be having a literal kitten if something was going on with our dog like this. It looks like you are at the mercy of this family flakiness.
Imagine this for a moment. My wife just told me there was a lost dog ad in the classifieds where the person left their dogs with a friend who dropped the dogs at the pound a few days before her return. The dogs were adopted out and she was trying desperately to locate them.
If you were to leave your dogs in the future with anyone then you need to have a hard contingency plan like a kennel that they can be dropped off at in case of emergency.
Call the cops and tell them the sitter’s full name and address.
They can get their license plate number and watch for them.
Alternately, the phone company can track where the call came from by triangulating cell local towers.
If it were me, I’d consider it dog-napping and they’d be wise to just keep running with my dog and NEVER come home.
My first thought, too.
The pups won’t be worth much without papers, though.
Papers are the least of the concerns.
Our dog does have a microchip, but isn’t that only used if she’s lost, and someone scans her?
A chip implant will not locate the dog like some sort of directional device. The chips are not made for that. They simply carry the name, address and phone # of the vet who implanted them. Chips have to be scanned to retrieve the information. If a pet is lost, and ends up at a pound or if stolen and the thief takes the pet to another vet..the chip gets scanned and the original vet is contacted who, in turn, contacts the true owner.
Get the cops involved in this. Record your conversations with everyone.
I didn’t want to leave our sweetie in a cage or somewhere where she wasn’t in someone’s home. She’s one of those breeds who becomes very attached to her humans.
She was under the care of a loving 15 yo friend of my daughter’s. I was told this family treats their dogs the same way. Their dogs go everywhere with them.
The phone is a cell phone belonging to the daughter.
Sorry but there is no way these people are telling the truth. Call the police and brace yourself for upsetting news. Again, very sorry this is happening to you but this needs an officer to maintain the peace. I don’t believe these people ever left town.
IMHO all of this sounds plausible if the wife’s mother really is sick.
In that case, no offense but your dog will likely be way down on (their) priority list.
Could be they’re genuinely worried and supporting each other, and don’t want what they (may) see an the additional concern about the dog.
Or not. But that seems plausible, reading your original post. Perhaps they agreed to dog sit out of a sense of obligation to help.
Hard to say, from just the details posted... Might be they’re telling the truth.
Call the police. Give them the address of the dogsitter. They can go to the house. Check your phone records for the number they used to call you last time. Give that to the police. Let the police investigate. Dognapping is a crime in most states. Do it right away.
This is like listening to the Anthony trial.
Is the sitters name George or Cindy?
Besides the Police, also call your local News Stations. Sometimes they like investigating these type of human interest stories themselves. Good luck to you. I do know how you feel about leaving a dear companion behind.
All I can say is the parents of this girl have not told us the truth before our trip, or during. I feel badly for the 15 yo because her parents are obviously in control. At worst, they’ve encouraged/permitted her to lie by omission, but they have flat out told us untruths.
Would it effect Freepers’ thoughts if you were to learn the parents are both accomplished, highly educated, extremely wealthy professionals? These are not average people. They have made it. I feel taken advantage of. I told this girl that I would pay her $300 for it. I knew that she loved dogs. I have friends and my daughter has friends of all income levels. What matters most to me is a person’s integrity, their honesty, their values and level of kindness. I feel so betrayed. And I can’t stop crying.
She is spayed.
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