From Deidre D. via our Facebook timeline:
Today around 3:15pm I tied my dog Z up to a tree on 19th St in front of Radish, just off Valencia. I went into a store for about 10-15 minutes. When I came back she was gone and there was no sign of her. I am pretty sure she was stolen. She has a locator chip in her but it will only be useful if she is turned in. She is a yellow lab mix. I am desperate to get her home safely. We’re offering a huge cash reward on her behalf, no questions asked. If anyone has any ideas on how to get her back please let me know. I’m new to the Mission.
Contact us if you have any thoughts and we’ll get them to Deidre.
UPDATE: Z has been found! Yay!
Sucks. Hope you find her.
To avoid this very outcome, I’ve never left my dog alone outside. It can be inconvenient, but the alternative is just too horrible.
I once came out of a bodega just in time to find a guy walking away with my dog. It was late, and I was up to the challenge, but mostly I was just in disbelief that someone would try to steal a dog.
Oh, just to be sure in case I see her, I presume that’s a picture of the actual dog, not a stock dog photo?
KILL DOGNAPPERS
Take a cruise around Hippy Hill, and Haight between Masonic and Amoeba too.
Thank you so much for posting this! There is an update: We were out all day postings signs and canvasing the area and we did get some clues. Our dog was seen with a homeless white younger female who has gray hair outside of Mission Hotel on Van Ness (between 16th and 17th). Then the woman and our dog were spotted again this afternoon leaving Mission Hotel in the direction of Market. My dog was digging in her heals and did not seem like she wanted to go with her, says the witness. We also have surveillance video of the woman taking the dog seconds after I left her. We’ve notified the police and Animal Control.
I live on that block and will keep my eyes open.
When you steal a dog, it’s dognapping. But if you steal a cat, what is it? Catnapping? Cat-burgling?
Catnicking
Can you catch a cat? There are fast and not very friendly/social compared to a dog!
Call VET SOS, the organization that assists homeless San Franciscans with their pets. Chances are, she may show at one of their clinics with the dog. Also, please bring a current photo to both ACC and the SF SPCA and file a report.
We have always wondered why it would be illegal to tie up a dog to poles in the city. guess this is why. Hope you get your family back.
My dog was featured in this article posted last night from the SF Gate….
http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Big-SoMa-homeless-camp-cleaned-out-3822427.php#photo-3379549
She’s with the woman LaShawn Giese. The encampment has been cleared so we have no idea where she went with our dog.
Holy shit, that is crazy! Ooh the things I would do if I ever caught someone who had taken my dog.
I’m so sorry this happened. Please post her picture in the SF subreddit and on craigslist if you haven’t already. Make fliers to pass out at places where the homeless hang out. Emphasize the CASH REWARD.
As horrible as it is, dogs are often stolen to be killed in “training” by dogfighters — at least it seems like the kidnapper is taking care of your dog. Not to minimize your grief, but at least that’s one thing to be grateful for?
I saw the update that she was recovered. How? And so glad to hear that she is back home with her person!!
Great outcome. Yes, how was she recovered?
Please post the update information ASAP. I’ve been passing this around to all the dog people I know and want to let them know that she was rescued.
This is great news! Have been living and dying with you and your pup for the last two days! Would love to hear how she was found.
I am sorry for your stress and I am very glad that she has been found. I would never leave my dog even for a second to run and and buy milk let alone for 15 minutes.
Agreed! And- Never leave your dog in a car- BTW this has been going on for years in this city.
I live directly across from Dolores Park and I have twice in the last few months seen two different young, tweaked out street women steel or attempt to steel dogs.
One instance happened when a local woman was walking down 19th street about to cross church st into the park. Her dog was walking in front of her (off leash) by about 20-30 feet. When the dog reached the corner of church and 19th, a haight style gutter punk piece of trash looking girl put HER leash on the dog and started off down church with it. The real owner of the dog flipped (naturally) and confronted her. Then this girl’s equally vile male companion comes of nowhere and backs the girl up saying its her dog. The real owner just cannot comprehend what is happening and keeps pleading to please give her dog back, on the verge of tears, while the scum keeps insisting its her dog. Eventually they both called the dog’s name and of course the dog went to the real owner.
On a separate occasion someone kept ringing my doorbell like a mad person. I usually ignore it because this happens from time to time during busy Dolores park weekends. People think it’s funny I guess. When it persisted I yelled out the window asking what the deal was. This really sweet family was trying to let me know there was a dog cowering in our doorstep. Of course I rushed down to see and as soon as I opened the door this super sweet yellow lab/pit mix rushes in the door, tail between the legs. Dog is freaked out. Within about 2 minutes another drunk/tweaked out of her mind, dirty, young female comes running up, crying about her “honey bear”. “oh honey bear, oh honey bear”. Dog had a collar, no tag. I didn’t know what to do. The girl appeared distraught over losing her dog but how could I know if it was hers? Did she steal it? Why is it freaked out so badly? I didn’t want to give her the dog, but at the same time, what am I going to do with it? She walked away with it but then sat down on another doorstep about a block away, started sobbing. I started approaching her and she got up quickly and basically dragged the dog away. I feel terrible I didn’t do more. It’s possible this is the same girl, but if not, I’m sure there are a lot just like her.
People, protect your animals!
It’s cool you trained your dog to walk off leash and stop at each corner to wait for you, but its probably better to just keep it on leash for its own good. I also saw a dog get hit and killed by a car at the corner of church and 19th because some asshole ran the stop sign and the dog was off leash. Owner lost his best friend, guy in the car stopped but then just drove away.
anyway, fuck the girl who took the dog and fuck all the parasites in and around the mission and SF.
Your stories really stuck a nerve in me-I found myself shaking with anger at the brazen callousness exhibited by the “haight style gutter punks”, as well as the street person animal thief of the original post. How strange and lucky was it that the stolen dog was captured by a photographer in our city’s largest daily newspaper???
I’ve seen far too many of these annoying pieces of human trash dragging around dogs in criminally poor condition: near starvation, plagued with parasites and too often, trained to be vicious and aggressive. And yes, in this type of case, I do care more about the animal than I do the human, and have no problem whatsoever admitting that.
I’m SO glad that the original poster got their sweet looking dog back from the street trash who stole her, and hope that this story inspires pet owners all over our city to be even more vigilant. This story makes me extra-thankful that my beloved animal is an indoor-only kittycat!
This has been a problem in this City for years. Sounds like it’s on an increase. If you ever see a dog with a homeless person, do not hesitate to call the police and Animal Control (put that number in your phone)- they will come down and check the dog for a chip and or take the dog off of the street. This means you will need to check with Animal Control to get your dog back. How does a homeless tweaker get a dog in the first place without even enough money for drugs and food of their own. They steal them!!!
Please do not leave your dog anywhere unattended. It takes just a few seconds to untie and walk away.
yes, call animal control to get that dog off the street. they will be much better off getting euthanized in a shelter than they were chilling with a less-than-perfect owner who walks them around and plays with them all day . . .
They don’t euthanize in SF. Nice try though…
The problem is these homeless people are fine with the dog until it gets sick, injured, etc. then what? The dog does not get medical attention and then sufffers horribly and possibly dies. it is selfish, irresponsible and cruel to have dog when you can’t even take care of yourself. My dog cut her foot once and had to have $300 stitches. Will a homeless person be able to pay that? Chances are they will dump the dog somewhere.
NO. Why would you assume that just because a dog is with a homeless person, that you should call the cops on them?!?! Homeless people are still PEOPLE. Many are good people at that. Let’s not be assholes here. Just because one asshole homeless person stole this woman’s dog, doesn’t make them all assholes. mmmkay?
Seriously! Also, curb the issue yourself. If you feel your dog is your child to you, don’t let it off leash outside of parks, and don’t tie it up to posts. Would you do that to your kid?!
NO I actually hate the homeless and wish they would go to their own towns to beg, urinate and lay around the sidewalks. As a native sf’er I am sick of them.
you sound like a native bitch. Move out of a city to a po-dunk town if you don’t like homeless.
Native bitches belong here~ people who piss in doorways, beg aggressively & steal dogs belong in hell!
Common! You cannot update the article with “Z is found” without any more details. What happened? Did the cops arrest the scum who stole her dog?
Hi, Can someone answer why people don’t put collars with their contact info on their pets anymore? If I saw an off-leash dog walking around, I would try to figure out if its owner was nearby or somehow contact them. Cool if the dog is microchipped, but it is pretty inconvenient to have to take the pet to the SPCA to figure out whether it is chipped, and whose dog it is. Easier to just call a number and tell the owner where they can pick up their wayward pet.
Don’t they? My dog has a collar with contact info.
I have heard that you shouldn’t put your pets name on the collar just in case the pet does get stolen. That way if you find your stolen pet you can use the animal’s REAL name to prove your ownership. With that said, my dog never leaves the house without her collar, which has my phone number and contact info on it.
I mean, even if the dog has a collar, it’s not like the people who stole him or her are going to keep it on.
That being said, I found a Jack Russell alone at night outside of my building a few weeks ago. Because of his collar, he and his owner were reunited in about fifteen minutes. Collars work.
I’m not sure where you’re getting this. My dogs have collars/tags, almost every dog we meet every day has a collar/tags…. in SF (like most cities), dogs are required to wear a collar with current rabies tags on it anyway.
got mixed feelings about this because anyone who allows their dog to be stolen this way probably can’t be trusted to look after a dog, but that applies to homeless hobos who swipe dogs, too.
leash laws, people, and fuck homeless people with sympathy dogs.
“got mixed feelings about this because anyone who allows their dog to be stolen this way probably can’t be trusted to look after a dog”
Wow. Sounds like someone who has never had a dog. Yes, tying her dog up while she ran inside a store, WHAT A MONSTER.
yeah, dog owner for 7 years, never done that, ever. not in san fran, no way. this city is full of monsters.
tying up your dog, is like leaving your kid in the car. YOU are responsible for their safety and it is your role to monitor them to make sure no harm befalls them…. your dog is getting a shitty deal if you are not that kind of owner, as proven in this story that seems to not be a rare occurrence here in SF. wise up… It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to put two and two together, leave your dog or anything for that matter unattended, and things could/will happen that are not ideal/obviously illegal. Swallow your pride or give your dog to someone who is RESPONSIBLE.
why the hell does everyone assume that a homeless person with a dog is some lesser form of a person? Those dogs provide a real purpose, companionship, for most people. Just like you and me, folks. We’re all people.
As a side note, having a dog makes being homeless/marginally housed more difficult. Many shelters have very strict rules about allowing them inside or all together forbid them.
I don’t think anyone is saying that the homeless person with a dog is “some lesser form of person.” The reality is that dogs are EXPENSIVE. They’re expensive to get, and expensive to keep. Even if you adopt a shelter dog you’re talking about $200+ to complete the adoption process. Not to mention that shelters will not give a dog to someone without a job and a secure home. Therefore, the assumption must be made that the homeless person either got the dog from another homeless person or friend, got the dog before they were homeless, or stole the dog.
I have 2 dogs and I didn’t get them from the shelter. Many people do get them from friends, and this is in fact how many homeless/marginally housed folks get their dogs. Sure, some also steal them. However, many of these folks that I have known got their dogs before they became homeless. People do make a lot of assumptions, and those assumptions may be right, but also may be wrong. I think it’s generally dangerous to make assumptions about an ENTIRE group of people. And I have to admit people typically don’t get homeless folk the benefit of the doubt because they hold understandably misguided stereotypes about who they are.
This is a pretty interesting article by Malcolm Gladwell about homelessness and the image we create of homeless people based on our contact with the vocal minority. It’s a long read, but well worth it:
http://www.gladwell.com/2006/2006_02_13_a_murray.html
also, some great pictures and stories of homeless folk in SF:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stoneth/sets/1562065/
Look around in the comments at the choice of language used to describe homeless people – it is with disdain. It’s not at all flattering, and people are talking about individuals that they’ve never even met. If you want to go off on this woman who stole the dog, fine. But don’t make everyone else carry her burden.
You are so clueless, think about it. The dogs suffer being kept by the homeless, stolen or not. The problem is these homeless people are fine with the dog until it gets sick, injured, etc. then what? The dog does not get medical attention and then sufffers horribly and possibly dies. It is selfish, irresponsible and cruel to have dog when you can’t even take care of yourself. My dog cut her foot once and had to have $300 stitches. Will a homeless person be able to pay that? Chances are they will dump the dog somewhere.
replying to Sadie below:
Mere speculation based on what you think MUST be the case. You are making shit up based on the insides of your own brain, not necessarily the realities of the world. If you have fact based evidence to back up your generalized statements, provide it please. In the meantime, here you go:
Believe it or not, there is actually an organization that specializes in providing food/vet services to the dogs of homeless people. Soooo, yeah.
http://www.vetsos.org/
So how do street people CARE for their dogs — even if they receive them as gifts, or carry them over from previous situations, rather than stealing them from lamp posts? How do they give them the tags, and rabies vaccines, and heart-worm medicine, and flea prevention, and all the other care that animals require, just as humans do? What happens when the street dogs get hip dysplasia, or rotten teeth, or cancer? Dog owners deal with this responsibly; my guess is that street-dog owners walk away fast.
And that’s a guess. Cool story, dude.
I would agree with this. Where oh where is the free vet clinic, that funds the shots, dental care and surgeries??? If there is one, I really haven’t heard of it. Seriously, all you “the homeless should be able to have dogs too” folks, show me the resources, otherwise you are WRONG.
you are wrong for being so blatantly hateful. Rent and living is so damn expensive the average person would have a difficult time covering these costs…
Vet SOS goddamnit. DO your research before you let your little fingers make you into more of an asshole than you already appear to be.
Nothing pisses me off more than uninformed bullshit like this. It only takes, like, 5 seconds to google this shit. It seems like you aren’t even interested in knowing, because, really, my 2 year old sister could have figured this out.
http://www.vetsos.org/
::Yawn:: we should take them away like seriously….
http://www.vetsos.org/
We are a nation of commenters
So glad you are reunited with family!
Hello Deidre, I was the woman who hugged you as you were putting up flyers yesterday:) Just wanted to say how relieved I am that Z is finally home. Let this be a lesson to all of us dog owners. I have done this on a few occasions to grab a carton of milk etc. Never again! So amazing Z was featured on SFGATE- the universe works in mysterious ways!:)
“I would never….” That’s great! Kuddos to you for avoiding the evil that the rest of us perpetrate on a daily basis like tying up a dog for a few minutes to run an errand. Horror what is the world coming to!?! How does you pointing out how morally superior you are to the rest of us mere mortals have any useful place in this discussion? I don’t tie up my dogs, because one of them is a neurotic bitch who might growl at the random stranger who thinks petting a dog that looks scared is a good idea. And it’s a pain in the ass that I cannot do so when I need to pop into a store.
What does the following remind me of? — We define the constraints of our lives based on the terrible things that MIGHT happen and then if something terrible happens to someone else, we blame that person for bringing the terrible thing on to themselves because they didn’t constrain their lives sufficiently. Oh I know what it reminds me of! Blaming a woman for getting raped because she had the audacity to walk by herself down the street at 2AM.
How about we focus our rage on the perpetrators of the crimes rather than tell the victims that YOU would NEVER do XYZ?
And yes, perhaps a disproportionate number of homeless people neglect (or worse) their animals, but there are also plenty of homeless people who take reasonable decent care of their animals, and there are plenty of people with roofs over their heads walking around with un-neutered, untrained, poorly socialized dogs. Being with or without a roof does not determine your ability to care for an animal. If you see a specific animal that looks like it is in danger, regardless of who it is with, then call the cops.
I have on a couple recent occasions when dealing with homeless people with dogs who are asking for money, given them instead some food for themselves and one of those single serving, easy open dog food containers. That would probably be a far more reliable way to improve the life of a dog with a homeless person than calling the cops. Just saying.
love this. thank you.
Troll on, troll on…
I agree with the last part… but really leaving any personal item, especially living, unattended is just thoughtless, careless, and obviously bares consequences.
when you have a dog, they are counting on you to be the brains of the operation….
Geez, nailed it! Thank u!
just saw a street kid w the dog on haight near McDonald’s … same harness .. yellow leash ?? it was a young white chick. good luck
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to put two and two together, leave your dog or anything for that matter unattended, and things could happen that are not obviously illegal. Swallow your pride or give your dog to someone who is responsible. http://www.tobaccopub.net/
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