Dog Napper Steals Puppy

Thank you Rhon for barking this in! I hope someone who reads this can help!

And as for the question asked at the top of the article… the kind of person who would do this is an unadulterated slimebag! My heart goes out to this young boy and his family!

Rhon wrote:
I work for the Chicago Sun-Times and was in tears yesterday as I sent this story to press for today’s paper…

Who would steal a 13-year-old’s dog?
Man snatches pup out for a walk in Lincoln Park
November 16, 2006
BY TOM MCNAMEE Staff Reporter

What kind of men steal a puppy from a 13-year-old boy? “It’s a hard thing,” a cop told the boy later.

It was about 5 p.m. Sunday on Commonwealth Avenue in Lincoln Park. The Bears were going to play on TV, and the boy and his parents were going to watch.

But first the boy, whose name the Chicago Sun-Times has agreed not to publish, had to walk Clementine.

Clementine is a bull terrier, about 12 weeks old. Until her fur started coming in, she was pink like a baby.

“She’s sweet,” said the boy the next day. “She looks like a little piglet.”

The boy was walking out when his mom, Mary, called him back.

“It’s turning dark earlier,” she said. “Don’t talk to anybody who wants to pet the dog. Just be careful.”

As the boy and Clementine walked down the block, a man approached. Something about him — maybe the way he walked — made the boy wary. The man was tall and muscular. He had a beard and wore a gray sweater and knit cap.

“Hey, what kind of dog is that?” the man asked, reaching down as if to pet Clementine.

“Oh, it’s a bull terrier,” said the boy.

‘Hey, that’s my dog! Stop!’
For eight years, the boy had been asking for this dog. Finally, his dad had agreed. Now it was the adored family baby. With devotion, the boy fed it andbathed it and cuddled it.

“Well, I gotta go,” said the boy nervously, trying to scoot Clementine along.

But the man was holding Clementine by the neck. He was unlocking the leash.
When the boy reached down, the man shoved him away.

“Hey, that’s my dog!” the boy cried. “Stop!”

The man jumped into a pickup truck — white, with ladders on top — where another man was behind the wheel. They drove off.

The boy was smart. He called 911 on his cell phone, and the police arrived within minutes, but too late.

Dogs are stolen all the time — from yards and cars — but seldom in this Lincoln Park neighborhood. And for a dog to be grabbed from its owner is “bizarre,” said Belmont Area Cmdr. Tom Byrne.

If Clementine is very lucky, the cops said, she’ll be returned. If she’s alittle lucky, she’ll be sold to some nice family. If she’s horribly unlucky,she’ll be used for fighting.

If you know anything, call (773) 968-4902. The family is offering a reward.

The boy didn’t want to go to bed on Sunday night and be alone. He fell asleep in a chair.