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CORPUS CHRISTI, TX (USA) — Her legs may be no longer than a set of fountain-pens and
her brain may be no bigger than a radish, but she had what it took to
outwit and outrun a pair of dog thieves last month (I wonder what that
says about the brains of the dog thieves). And with a little bit of
luck and some obliging new human friends, she made it back home safe and
sound, 568 miles away in Oklahoma.
The Chorpus
Christi Caller Times reports that a "King", a punchy
little Pomeranian allegedly stolen from a yard in Oklahoma
City last October was spotted causing a spectacle in the Coastal Bend
area of Texas. On Jan. 9, Alonzo Gutierrez and his 13-year-old
daughter Megan were returning home when they saw an unusual sight: a big,
blue van following a little, lanky boy chasing a tiny, tan dog.
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"Dognap THIS!"
Slippery pooch is reunited with the Dyes.
(Photo: Paul Hellstern / Caller-Times)
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"He jumped out of the van and chased
the dog," explains Mr. Gutierrez. But the boy could never get
close enough to the elusive Pomeranian. "The dog kept going."
The Gutierrezes were further perplexed
when they saw the boy and the van simply give up the chase and pull
away. That's when Mr. Gutierrez and Megan decided to try capturing
the dog themselves, which turned out to be a surprisingly simple task for
them. The little dog practically leaped into Megan's hands.
Remarkably, the dognappers (who had lured
the dog from his Oklahoma yard with a trail of jerky treats) didn't think
to remove his collar, which clearly stated King's name, place of origin and phone
number.
Well, almost his phone number; one
final hitch was that a single digit of the number was illegible, prompting Judy
Gutierrez, Alonzo's wife, to begin dialing the 10 possible
combinations. She soon reached the Dye residence in Crescent,
Oklahoma where King's family had—after
three months of posting notices, running local ads, calling lost-pet
hotlines and saying prayers—practically
given up hope of finding their 11-year-old pet.
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King had been a part of the Dye family
since he was a puppy, says Shirley Dye and J.L., her husband. They
told the Gutierrezes that King had been stolen from their daughter's yard
in Oklahoma City while they were on vacation last year. They never
expected that King would show up in another state.
"When I told him we were in Corpus
Christi, Texas, he was really floored," said Judy Gutierrez.
Two days later, the Dye family showed up with camcorders whirring, cameras
snapping and enough tears to drown the little escapist.
"We were all crying," said Judy
Gutierrez. "It was really beautiful.
The lengthy odyssey took some minor tolls
on King, who had lost 4lbs. (out of 10) and had to have two loose teeth
removed. But the drama may well have been worth it. After all,
what 77-(human)-year-old can boast about that sort of excitement?
"Well,
I remember it as though it were a meal ago..."
Tommy the Cat, Primus
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