My Heart is Broken – My Dogs are Missing

Let me start from the beginning. We acquired a puppy when someone dumped him off at our house. Most of you have seen the pictures. He’s a lovely mixture, but I think he might mostly be pit bull. He’s a very rambunctious fellow, and he just can’t be still. We had him on a long run with a nice doghouse, lots of shade, toys…he was a happy dog. But he was always pulling on his collar, wanting to get to us when we weren’t right there beside him. Worried that he would damage his windpipe (he was starting to wheeze), we switched him to a harness instead of a collar, and that was working out really well. Keep in mind, he still had his collar ON, it just wasn’t attached to the lead. Yesterday morning, my cats took an interest in what was going on outside on the deck. It turns out that Duke was loose, on the deck. I went to check out the harness, and it was split in two. My husband thinks it broke, but it looked cut to me. I was going to put the leash on Duke’s collar and lead him back to his run and attach it by the collar. No collar. Now, he had been hooked up to the lead on his run by this collar for months and he hadn’t gotten out of it. So why was his collar suddenly gone? And why did his harness look cut? I honestly believe someone tried to steal him. Stealing this dog would be hard because you can’t get HOLD of him…he’s too feisty. Which is also the reason I had to leave him loose all day yesterday. We had nowhere to put him, and no way to get him anywhere. He’s strong and big, and there’s no way he would let us put him anywhere. So on the way home from work, I purchased another collar for him. When I got home, he was not there. My son looked everywhere. In the woods. Up and down the road. Nothing. He wasn’t there this morning either. But I swear I think I heard him barking this morning from the direction of my nephew’s house. That was the first place my son drove by yesterday, but he couldn’t see anything. My nephew expressed interest in him before when he saw pictures on Facebook. I don’t want to accuse my nephew unjustly. But if I had to venture a guess as to who might have my dog, he would be the first in my mind. So now, what to do. Do I upset my brother by suggesting my nephew might have him? I don’t want my son going down there because there might be a fight, and that scares me. I don’t want to get the police involved because I could be wrong, plus it’s family. Oh, I didn’t mention…my other dog is missing, too, so I’m sure they went together. Chipper is old and has been loose for a long time. He doesn’t ever get into any trouble, but with Duke by his side…. I’m praying they come home. Part of me hopes my nephew has them. Part of me hopes he doesn’t, because of the family thing. But if I had to say either way, I’m leaning toward him having my dogs.