We have got Heston (aka Mclane), American Bull Dog mix from his previous owners as they decided to emigrate to Australia. Nobody they knew wanted him, even family members, because dog had behavioural problems (going for other dogs, pulling on the lead, snapping). As we are dog trainers we decided to train him and, as owners initially wanted, find a new home for him. Heston moved in late December 2011. Very quickly we noticed that Heston wasn’t a bad dog, just a misunderstood one. He has made a fantastic progress to the point that we started taking him to our clients’ homes to help rehabilitate other troubled dogs. We have grown very fond of Heston and decided to keep him. He is such a fantastic pet, especially to our two young boys, who adore him. We have notified Heston’s owners of our decision and they have been delighted. We have received all Heston’s paperwork, including PetLog documents in May and he was officially ours. Or at least we thought so.
Couple of days before Heston’s previous owner’s departure to Perth, Australia, they came along to see him for the last time, say goodbyes and take him for the last walk. As we trusted them, we agreed. This was our mistake as 23rd May 2012 was the last time we have seen our Heston. His previous owners have been lying to us for 3 days and coming up with the excused as to why they couldn’t bring him back to us. Eventually, they have stopped answering our calls and at that point we knew Heston was stolen. We have notified Police on numerous occasions but they washed their hands off, even after seeing all the paperwork we had to prove he belonged to us. I contacted PetLog to report Heston stolen, but it was impossible as we needed crime number from the Police. Couple of days after my phone call to Pet Log I have received very nasty phone call from Heston’s previous owner; she has been threatening us and claiming that PetLog paperwork counts for nothing and we do not have any proof that Heston belongs to us. She has called us names and accused us of mistreating Heston, which was a lie, and put the phone down. Yet again we tried to get Police involved but in vain.
Since then we have been into contact with 4 different solicitors whose expertise is dog law, and at least 3 ex-Police officers and all of them said that our dog has been stolen and his thieves should be found and prosecuted. We have had 3 meetings with West Midlands Police inspectors but neither of them were interested, they just fobbed us off; one of them even told us he had more important things to do than looking for some dog! We have also been told that if we wanted the dog back so much we can go and look for him on our own as Police do not have such powers!
It’s been 3 months since Heston has been stolen and we have no idea where he is or even if he’s safe and looked after. Our family is devastated not only because we have lost our beloved pet, but also because not even one member of the Police was sympathetic to us – victims of the crime. Instead, they made us feel stupid for looking for ‘just some dog’ and wasting Police’s precious time.
We are now enrolling as many people as possible into Heston’s search. I have also found photos of Heston’s thieves on the internet and will be posting them on our Facebook account as soon as I gather some more information to accompany those. We are not giving up and we will fight for as long as it takes to bring our Heston back home, where he belongs.
http://www.doglost.co.uk/
