Someone Tried to Take Ilsa; GOOD PEOPLE got her BACK

This morning, I let my dogs into my fenced-in back yard. Two hours later, I found the gate lock broken and my neighbor checking on my property, but no dogs.

This is the remarkable story of how genuinely GOOD PEOPLE got my dogs back to me.

THANK YOU to Joe Pallitta and John Perazzo from ADT Security who found and returned Niko.

THANK YOU to everyone at Peaceable Kingdom, especially Tara. They recovered Ilsa from a thief.

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[ArticTiger]

Dog thieves are some of the worst trash on earth. Very happy for you Leonard.

[Sanjuaro]

Is this finally a vaguely appropriate time for me to suggest a collaboration between LockPickingLawyer and Leonard in order to find a suitable replacement lock for his gate?!

[audri]

While my husband's grandmother was dying from Parkinson's, some teenager stole their 14-year-old Papillon. They knew she was stolen because they heard her yelp loudly when they crossed the invisible fence with her. She didn't move more than a few feet from the front door due to arthritis, so she was also physically unable to.

Her and her mother returned the dog a few days later. The mother was trying to get my husband's grandfather to pay for the vet bills. I guess they wanted to keep her because her daughter claimed she found an abandoned puppy (that had a collar) They returned her after they realized her age and her long list of ailments. That dog was expensive to keep alive. They quickly left after she learned her child stole the dog off his property.


I'm so happy you got your doggos back and safe! Thank goodness for good people! Give them lots of special love tonight. Your family definitely has had a day.

[LezChap]

You're not an idiot...as the saying goes, a locked door (or gate) only stops an honest thief. Your property was secure against all but a forcible entry. This is the fault of whoever purposefully and intentionally broke your fence.

As for the "not wearing collars"...I don't blame you there either. Our dog (roommate's service animal) rarely wears her collar when she's not out in public and on leash (and on duty) because every collar she wears regularly ends up causing her to rash. Then again, she generally doesn't like staying outside by herself any longer than it takes her to do her business...and usually "demands" to be let in (in her submissive fashion) if you forget her outside for more than 10 or 15 minutes...so anyone trying to steal her would have a shorter window than your thieves did. Still, you should feel safe allowing your dogs to enjoy your secured property unattended regardless of how long they want to be running around on it.

Are there things, actions, changes, etc you could make that would improve your chances/ability to protect yourself, your family (the dogs), and your property? Sure. Are you to blame for not doing them? No, you did what should have been reasonable needed. Don't victim blame yourself...place the blame squarely where it belongs.

[atypicalgeek]

Leonard, please don't feel bad about crying <3

[timeforsuchaword]

I'm so happy you got your dogs back. When one of my dogs escaped my yard, I may or may not have run down a very public street in nothing but boxers and a tee shirt after her and then carried her (40lbs airedale terrier) two blocks back along said public road. Priorities.

[Psyfun]

As someone who had a dog stolen from their backyard on Thanksgiving, I know how terrible it feels to think you wont see your friends again. Glad your friends are back.

[annme_]

I'm so glad Niko and Ilsa are safe!

Dog thieves are the worst. They seem to be getting more and more common. There was just a province wide search for a lovely golden named Atlas who was lured out of his yard. The person who took him was captured on security cameras.

I even had a neighbour try to steal my very elderly black lab a few weeks ago. My dog Shadow is very very old and loves to walk off leash near our very rural property. He's been diagnosed with cancer and every day we have left with him is a gift, so we let him do whatever he likes.

I was watching him roll in the snow at the top of our driveway when my neighbour approached, looked me in the eye and very brazenly just started calling his name. This lady is not a friend of ours. She picks stupid fights with all our neighbours (us included) on a pretty regular basis. Shadow jumped up and started towards her. I was so stunned that I froze.

I tried calling him back, but by that time she'd pulled a treat out of her pocket and Shadow was just excited to get a treat. She began to jog towards him. I started to panic and run after him (he was only 30 or so feet away. He doesn't move that fast my old boy. But my neighbour was closer to him than I was.) I called him again, almost crying now. That time I think Shadow heard my panic and he turned around to see what was wrong and came back to me. I dropped to my knees and grabbed him in a bear hug around his neck.

My neighbour looked me dead in the eye again and turned and speed walked away.

[roceb]

Re: GPS tracking, there are little Bluetooth tags (we used to use trakr and now we use pawscout) that are not offensively expensive, are light and don't have a subscription. They mostly don't help once the dog gets out, but they could have warned you about the dogs getting out while you were asleep.

[Metal_Mouth]

Something similar happened to me and my dog of more than 15 years (Rest in Peace) where he somehow got out by digging a hole after a rainstorm and was missing for 2 days.
My family searched everywhere and informed both the ASPCA and the local Petsmart and Petco about him and asked a local facebook group about missing pets of his whereabouts.
We found him at the local shelter about to be adopted out. They tried to convince my aunt it's not him and they "checked" and found no chip. She called them on their bs and asked him to be checked where (surprise!) he was chipped and he belonged to her.
They almost adopted him out to total strangers without even checking him wtf. If he was to be adopted out it wouldn't have ended well. Like I said he was an old dog (the shelter listed him as 7 years old when he was well over 12) and he had hip problems and aggression issues when it comes to high-stress environments and was food aggressive, we could deal with him, but I doubt a family with small kids could.
Glad we didn't deal with literal thieves but I am very worried about the animals in that shelter if slip up like this keeps happening. I kept getting bad experiences from that shelter and when looking them up on google they got a 2-3 star review. Shocking.

[TemeryN]

I am really glad you got your babies back! =) Please don't be so hard on yourself, easier said then done, I know. Do what you feel is needed as far as security for the backyard and let karma be karma, it comes for us all. <3 There is some darn good karma coming for those 2 ADT employees! that's for sure!

[SadisticSenpai]

A dog that my family fostered for a time was stolen. He went to live on a farm and one day a car pulled up, opened the door, whistled, he just jumped in, and they took off. He was an American Boxer that had been abused and trained to fight before he was rescued. It's depressing to think that he might be back in that same kind of situation now.

[MichaelBerthelsen]

Looking at the plate (the fracture is shorn, no erosion what so ever, no cracking), and how it's bent the OPPOSITE way to if someone put their shoulder to it, it was probably shaken back and forth multiple times to stress the metal, and the door opened OUT (the bend in the part ON the door), and then was opened. This was 100% a B&E... Sadly...

[voxkine]

I can only imagine the unholy wrath I’d unleash on someone I caught trying to steal my golden retriever... someone once insulted her (after their dog went after mine at a park) and I still hold it against them a year later..

Glad to hear you got yours back!

[pstrap]

I live somewhere where I can just let my dog roam around without fear (no cars or thieves). I dont think of myself as very well off but this video helped me be thankful for what I've got.

[amphiptered.]

I am glad you got your dogs back. Don't feel bad, it normal for people to feel secure in their homes.
I am lucky that I don't have to worry about dog thieves busting into my backyard, they have to go through the house to get to the backyard.

[andrewfaull]

You were lucky. My GF had her doxie taken in the fall after moving to TN. She was there three days when someone jumped the fence lifted the dog out, and jumped out. The dog's chip still has never been scanned.

[joshbeaulieu]

So glad everything worked out for you in this situation. You seem like a nice guy who loves his dogs.

[rflagg]

I i had tears in my eyes, and im not much of a dog person. Im glad everyone is safe and sound

[PointsofData]

I'm so sorry for this. You're not an idiot. That gate was broken into most likely, and I imagine Ilsa was nabbed because she's a pretty, sociable purebred. Plus you trust your doggos not to bother with a worn down fence; I do the same with mine. There's no gate or fence by the house, but my pups are content to wander around the back and bark when they want in (thankfully the one is territorial and very vocal about it so I cant imagine someone trying to nab them).

The fault is entirely on the thief.