More on the Stolen Chicago French Bulldog

More details from Beth, owner of the Delilah Blue, the French Bulldog who was stolen from inside a Chicagoland residence. Please, please – tweet this, email this and send it on to as many groups as you know of. We need help in getting Delilah Blue back, and we need to make sure that no more dogs go missing.

If you live in or near Chicago and want to help, you can download the flyer with her information here. Please paste it up in as many places as possible – vet clinics, groomers and pet supply stores are especially helpful.

Yesterday, my little French Bulldog puppy, 4 months old, was stolen from my home. I know who took her by what he looks like, but can’t confirm a name, I’m sure he gave me a fake name. I was walking my puppy, Delilah Blue, home from the park – we went to enjoy the good weather before this storm hit last night.

On the way home from the park, we encountered “Alexa”, a friendly-type “neighbor” who commented how cute Delilah was, and that he had 4 puppies of his own, about 3 months old, available for sale. He named the breed properly and mentioned the colors of the dogs as cream and black. If he said “white” I would have thought about that, since in the Frenchie community, the proper name is “cream”. Anyway, we walked and chatted, and he told me that he only lived a few blocks from the park. I said I wanted to see the puppies and wanted to take mine home first. While we walked, he “received” (although I didn’t hear the phone ring, thought it might be on vibrate or something) a few phone calls for his “puppies for sale”. He went through one or two conversations with people who were calling to come see one of the puppies.

When we got to my house, I went inside, leaving him outside, and put the dog away (took off her leash and sweater), and grabbed my driver’s license and wallet, and got ready to drive him to his house nearby to see the puppies. As I was leaving, he asked me if he could use the restroom. I figured it was OK (What An Idiot) and let him in, watching him walk down the hall and saw him coming back out. Before he left, he leaned over to pet my puppy goodbye, who was sitting by the sliding glass door, and must have unlocked the door. Then we left and I locked the house doors, leaving my purse and everything else inside, “safely locked up”.

We then drove 1 and a half blocks from my house, and he went down some stairs, I didn’t actually see him go inside a residence. A few minutes later, I got a call on my cellphone, from “Alexa”, asking me if I had some towels in the car, and that he was just going to be a few more minutes getting the puppies together. At that point, I called my upstairs neighbor to go check on the dog, something just felt really wrong… my neighbor ran down to my apartment (we all have eachother’s keys in case of emergencies and he dog-sits for me too)… Emanual told me that the dog was NOT in my house. It had only been a few minutes since I got that cell phone call from “Alexa”. I sped back to my house to find my dog stolen, the sliding glass doors had been opened.

“Alexa” told me he was gay, that he performed at “The Baton” and also that he worked in the stock room at Best Buy Ford City. He has shaved eyebrows, his ears are pierced above the lobes, he has men’s names tattoo’d on both sides of his neck, a tattoo of the name “Alexii” or “Alexa” on his arm, his pinkee finger has a bad gash in it, and some small dreads tied with blue and white beads that hung out the back of his black knit cap, which he wears to cover his “non-eyebrows”. Hispanic/Puerto Rican, about 5’6″ or 5’7″, chatty, effeminate (maybe to make “girls at ease”), white cell phone, jeans with a “Tiger” embroidered on the back pockets, black jacket.

Now here’s what I have done so far:

1. Filed a police report. 2 officers came and got my information. They told me to calm down and that I had to act smart. They sent out a fingerprint expert but he found nothing on the sliding glass doors.

2. Traced the cell phone number on the internet under “People Lookup By Phone Number”, since he JUST called me.
3. Went to the 1st address on the list last night just hours after the dog was stolen, and called the police station in the area, who sent out a squad car. Two officers went to the house listed (on 105th S. Ewing) and a couple said that Favian had moved out a long time ago, but they knew his father. The police talked to “his father” on the cellphone and the description of this “Favian” did not match the description of the man I described above.

4. I called my police station this morning to let them know that I had the cellphone number, they said they didn’t trace numbers… then I asked if a detective had been assigned to my case and was told that a detective would be assigned tomorrow or Wednesday and that they’d call me.

5. I remembered that this guy mentioned “the Baton” and called there to see if they could recognize the description of maybe a “regular” customer, or maybe an amateur impersonator or something, and when I finally got to talk to someone who might recognize patrons, etc. “Jim” asked me “Is this the lady I talked to last week?” and I said NO but tell me what happened and why another lady was calling about a dog napper? He gave me the person’s number and I called over there immediately.

6. There was another dog stolen from a pet store on Feb. 13th – the person who stole her matches the description of “my” guy EXACTLY – tattoos on his neck, shaved eyebrows, little braids in back, hispanic about 5’6/5’7 etc… talked about his mama, about getting puppies, etc. Also mentioned The Baton, that he worked there to both of us. He apparently went into the pet store and looked at the puppies, asked for a drink of water, and when their back was turned to get him some water, snatched the puppy and ran out of the store to a waiting car.

7. I am trying to hire a private investigator to trace the phone number and get a current billing address or name attached to the phone. it might be a clone or drop phone, but I don’t know yet.

I believe that there is a dog-snatching ring in play in Chicago, and that they stole from a store and a private residence. They are taking “high end” dogs and probably selling them privately or through the internet… The police wont’ tell me if there’s any other cases of dog-snatching, I want to find out where those crimes were committed, if this is the same guy, or find out where to FIND my PUPPY!!!

ALL INFO;
Beth’s Stolen Puppy:
Delilah Blue Petoulah LeDeux Gottlieb (Can just call her Delilah)
4 mo. old Black Brindle French Bulldog, with White Snipe on Chest
From: 21st & Oakley
Sunday, Feb. 21st @ 3pm
Police Report RD#HS 175012
No detective assigned yet
Area 4: 312.746-8253
CONTACT (DOG OWNER): BETH GOTTLIEB, 773.531-6536
bethgottlieb@msn.com

Stolen From “Let’s Pet” Store
Boxer Puppy: 8 weeks old, solid white with spot on one eye
Saturday, Feb. 13th @ Time?
From: 3404 N. Ashland
Police Report RD#HS162073
Detective Moscalino assigned, not in today
Area 3 (312.744-8263)
CONTACT (DOG OWNER): Pete (312.533-5668) or Susan: 773.327-2050
peteszx12@yahoo.com

Please feel free to call me if I can provide you with any more information or to let me know you can HELP ME!!!

Thank you,
Beth

Another Stolen Chicago Area Frenchie

This was just posted via comments:

My little baby was stolen out of my house today – she is 4 months old, a black brindle with a white snipe, her name is Delilah Blue and I am desperate to get her back.

Robber has no eyebrows, pierce earlobes, told me he had 4 puppies,when I went to drop my dog off at my house to go see his puppies, he asked if he could use the bathroom, and somehow unlocked my sliding glass door. When we went to “his house” a few blocks from my house, he went inside a courtyard, called me from a cellphone a few minutes later, and then I rushed home to find my puppy missing, nothing else was taken, and the sliding glass door was open.

Robber has no eyebrows, tattoos on both sides of his neck and a tattoo on his arm that says “Alexii” if anyone knows who this guy is, please reply to my e-mail, I am offering $500 for any information leading to his arrest.

PLEASE HELP ME! I am at 21st & Western area.

Contact Beth Gottlieb
bethgottlieb@msn.com

If you are in the Chicago area, and can help, please contact Beth. Please forward this to any other Chicago area lists you know of. Re tweets might also be helpful.

Let’s hope she’s home again soon.

Why People Watch Westminster

Why People Really Watch Westminster Dog Show Graph Jam

Judging at Westminster – Stocky Bodied White Women in Suits

Hey, it’s really the handlers being judged most of the time, so why not just announce* it that way?

* on that note, what the hell was up with the actual announcing this year? Is turning your mike off between comments really that difficult to figure out? I loved the part where, during best in show judging, he kept muttering that he “couldn’t see” (I assume because they turn the lights way down for it). I kept thinking “someone needs to get him one of those portable wallet lights“. It was like listening to your grandpa trying to give a speech.

Distemper Outbreak in Toronto’s Wildlife

Raccoon nests like this one inside homes can spread Canine Distemper

Raccoon nests inside homes can spread Canine Distemper

An outbreak of distemper has killed off hundreds of Toronto’s raccoons and skunks – and has put dogs at risk.

From the Toronto Star

If you see a raccoon lying on a sidewalk in the middle of the day, call Toronto Animal Services – and keep your dog on a tight leash.

The animal is likely sick and dying, and could infect your pet with a lethal strain of distemper, an epidemic that has killed hundreds of raccoons and skunks in the GTA since May.

“It’s not transferable to humans but there is definitely a high risk to unvaccinated cats and dogs,” said Eletta Purdy, manager of Toronto Animal Services. “It’s not rabies but it kills quickly.”

Distemper is a highly contagious, highly lethal virus. The same virus affects dogs, skunks, ferrets, weasels, raccoons and possibly opossums.

It’s hugely irresponsible to not use the readily available, virtually risk free distemper vaccination to protect your pets from distemper. Prior to the invention of the canine distemper vaccine in the 1960’s, distemper ravaged thousands of kennels world wide, wiping out entire lines. A trip to the dog show could result in the death of all of a breeder’s puppies, and sometimes their older dogs, as well.

Advocates of no vaccinations often argue that it is only puppies with weak immune systems who develop viruses like distemper. They point to raw feeding and homeopathic remedies as a method to prevent and cure distemper. Raccoons and skunks are hardly surviving on a diet of take out food, and yet they still are highly susceptible to distemper.

The other argument made by no vaccine advocates is that their puppies only end up contracting distemper when  they come into contact with other puppies which have received the distemper vaccine, and are ‘shedding’ the virus. Ignoring the fact that modern distemper vaccines are made from killed forms of the virus, it’s an incontrovertible fact that any puppy not living in a bubble stands a good chance of encountering a raccoon, a fox or a skunk, even in the most urban environment. Your dog doesn’t even have to have a face to face run in with a wild animal to become infected with distemper – it can be spread via feces of infected animals just as easily (and who among us hasn’t seen our dogs snuffling up something gross and unknown on our daily walks?).

Please, get your dogs and puppies vaccinated. It’s such a simple preventative, for such a horrible disease.