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In two weeks, burglars have stolen six small canines from pet stores, officials say. No forced entry was found.
By COLLEEN JENKINS
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 1, 2001
They were affectionately known as the "Three Stooges."
The tiny puppies -- a Yorkshire terrier, chihuahua and cairn terrier -- lived and played together in pen No. 4 at Mr. Puppy, the pet store in Gulf View Square mall in Port Richey.
But on Thursday, pen No, 4, a plastic playhouse filled with shredded computer paper, was empty. The chihuahua and Yorkshire terrier were gone, stolen from Mr. Puppy last Friday and Tuesday, respectively.
Only the 2 pound black and brown cairn terrier remained, and assistant manager Kandi Chambers was not about to leave him alone in the doghouse. She and another employee cradled him in their arms for most of the day Thursday.
"I don't want him stolen," she said. "I don't think my nerves could take another one."
In the past two weeks, puppy snatchers have swiped at least six dogs from three area pet stores. Pasco sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll says the dog-nappings aren't anything new, but local pet store employees confirm they don't often run into this many missing pups.
"It's happened before," said Allen Holt, a caretaker at the Puppy & Kitty Nursery in New Port Richey. But, he added, "not often."
Sheriff's Office reports show that only two puppies have been stolen from Mr. Puppy this year, and both were in the past week. The $880 male chihuahua, black and brown with a white chest, was the first.
On May 24, the day before he was stolen, store employees had taken the puppy from the "Three Stooges" cage and given him his own place, pen No. 17, because there were empty spots around the store. Chambers remembered a mother and young son coming into Mr. Puppy and playing with the 11/2 pound pup in one of the store's three playpens.
Chambers locked the chihuahua back in his cage when the pair had finished. About 45 minutes later, an elderly woman came into the store asking to see a chihuahua. Chambers went to retrieve him.
But when she peered into his mini-house, there was no puppy.
"I started ripping paper up looking for him because sometimes the little ones hide in it," she said. "I had just seen him. I know I had locked the door. And he was gone."
The blackish-blue and gold Yorkie became the store's next victim. Chambers was one of the employees who fed more than 30 puppies Tuesday night around 8:45 p.m. At that point, the 2-month-old puppy was in its cage with the cairn terrier. Chambers closed the store at 9 p.m. and had all customers out by 9:05 p.m.
When manager Lisa Hancock opened Mr. Puppy on Wednesday morning, the Yorkie was gone. Employees believe he was taken during the 15 minutes between the feeding and closing because there were no signs of forced entry.
The employees at the Puppy & Kitty Nursery pet stores in Palm Harbor and New Port Richey can relate. A chihuahua was stolen sometime Tuesday from the Palm Harbor store, said manager David Anderson. It was the first time in about three months that one of the store's pups had been snatched, and Anderson was not surprised that a small puppy had been taken.
"They go for the smaller dogs," he said Thursday of the thiefs.
The New Port Richey store had worse luck. In the past week, swindlers have taken three dogs: a miniature pinscher, a dachshund and an Italian greyhound. As with the other two pet stores, the puppies all seem to have disappeared during store hours, right from under the employees's noses.
With between 60 to 70 puppies in the store at a time, that's not hard to believe. The Puppy & Kitty Nursery keeps the pups in unlocked wire cages, "so people can interact with the puppies and play with them," Holt said.
But Holt also thinks that people have abused this freedom. He's seen multiple people come into the store in big groups, with some carrying their babies in a car seat. A few members of the group distract the employees as others sneak the smallest and most expensive puppies into the car seats, he theorizes.
"We think they are hiding them in there," he said.
Chambers recalls seeing two men, around the ages of 18 to 22, loitering around the store toward the end of last week. One guy asked her several questions about how much the dogs in Mr. Puppy cost. Then he pointed to the Yorkshire in particular, and she told him it sold for $998. He and his friend joked about a tiny dog costing almost $1,000.
She was suspicious, especially because both men wore baggy Jeans with big pockets.
Doll says these tactics hardly differ from someone trying to steal clothes.
"It happens from time to time because it is a crime of opportunity," he said. "If something is there, you can take it if no one's looking."
Deputies haven't caught any puppy thieves. Holt said an anonymous caller told Puppy & Kitty Nursery employees that he knew where some of their missing puppies were. But deputies didn't find any puppies at the specified location.
Chambers thinks the puppy snatchers probably will try to sell their loot but says they won't go for their true value because the registration papers were left behind. However, it's not the monetary value of the puppies that worries her most.
"The point is, how is the dog being taken care of?" she said. "I lost a night's sleep over the chihuahua. It's very worrisome."
- Colleen Jenkins can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6232 or (800) 333-7505, ext. 6232.