To start things off with, a sad story from our friends Lori and Ray in Florida. They got one of Ivy’s pups for CHRISTmas this year and also got another cute little pup named Skye. The sad part of the story is while Skye and Kiwa were out in their fenced backyard for a potty break, someone leaned over the wall and snatched skye. We believe they would have taken Kiwa too if he hadn’t been so heavy. Needless to say they were heartbroken, and even Kiwa moped around the house missing his friend. They called every vet clinic, every shelter, put up flyers, had a police report filed, they talked to everyone they knew. Most importantly, they acted quickly. While talking to some neighbors across the road, one of the little girls seemed to think she saw a boy climb the wall and leave with something under his shirt. She showed them where he lived and they passed the info on to the detective who let them know the kid already had a history of theft, even animal theft. The police couldn’t do anything until after the weekend though so Lori and Ray did what they could. The next morning some folks were at the door who said they had seen the flyer. They had bought skye from some kid they claimed but didn’t want anything to do with a stolen dog. They didn’t want a reward, just their $75 back they bought the pup for. Ray and Lori gladly paid just grateful to have skye back and didn’t ask many questions. Seems this story gets played a lot down there. Regardless of what the truth was, we can all learn a lesson from their tragedy. More and more people are stealing things from others with no thought of how it affects them. Your loved ones whether two or four legged can disappear in an instant even when we are as careful as we can be. I guess I would recommend that you never leave your dogs alone until they are full grown and protection trained, other than that, most all of our dogs could be coaxed into someone else’s car and vanish. Please watch over your loved ones quickly, and if something horrible happens, act quickly and effectively, contact all the people you can and get pictures and important information out. Microchips are a great thing today, all shelters scan for them, and some vet clinics do. Tattoos can be great as well, naturally have tags with your contact info even though it won’t help in abduction cases it can in lost pet cases. Always have current photos on hand ready to use for just such cases and to share with us!

On a lighter note, Farika did have her pups, Zenny now has his first litter on the ground and we are all very excited. Sasha’s pups are growing very fast and Coco is ready to pop! It seems appropriate though that with spring and new life all around we can heal from the things we have all been hurt by recently. Truly there is a season for all things and we hope this is a season of joy for all of our dobe friends!

Stephen Parsons

Family Dobes

Quality Dobermans for 17 years

801-636-8006

http://www.familydobes.com