Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Van and Dogs En route to Eukanuba STOLEN

UPDATE: ALL FOUR DOGS HAVE BEEN RECOVERED. READ THE LATEST NEWS AT http://deepacresfarm.blogspot.com/

I just got this message from a friend at the Eukanuba Dog Show (Lori Rickard of
Dream-Hi Akitas). Please cross-post!

PLEASE HELP EUKANUBA TRAVELERS OUR VAN WAS STOLEN IN LONGBEACH AT THE MOTEL6 YES SOME OF THE DOGS ARE IN THERE. 2AKITA'S AND 2 CORGI'S WHITE CHEVY VAN
WITH BLACK BOX ON THE BACK ALSO THERE ARE 3 DOG STICKERS ON THE BACK WINDOWS
AN AKITA, BRITTANY AND PARSON. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

white chevy express 2006
California license plate # 8D50252
Contact David Peek 530 917-6846

11/30/2010 3:45 PM EST Here's an update from the Contra Costa Times:

Note: This is not the van that was stolen. Just an example.

BELLFLOWER — A Redding couple visiting for the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship dog show in Long Beach pleaded for help Tuesday in finding four show dogs stolen from their Bellflower motel.

The couple awoke around 6 a.m. Tuesday to find their cargo van was stolen from the parking lot of the Motel 6 where they were staying.

"I don't think they were after the dogs. I think they just saw a cargo van and thought there's high-priced stuff in there," said David Peek, whose girlfriend is a professional dog handler.

Inside, however, was something almost beyond value, the couple's two purebred Akitas — Trace and Deedee — and a client's two purebred Corgis — Bunny and Peter.

"We had them in the van because they have heavy coats. It's more comfortable for them to sleep outside where it's cooler. It's better for their coats too," Peek explained.

Peek and Kristina Rickard arrived at the motel at around 11 p.m. Monday.

They left the four dogs with the heavy coats in the van, and took three dogs with shorter coats — a Boxer, a Brittany and a Parson Russell Terrier — inside the motel room.

When they awoke at 6 a.m. the first thing they did was to go outside to check on the dogs. Instead they found an empty parking space.

"The (motel staff) said 'Sorry, nothing we can do.'" said the couple's friend, Tamara Houser. "I asked if they were sorry about the lost dogs or the stolen van."

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies are investigating the thefts. So far nothing has turned up, deputies said.

The dogs were sleeping in crates in the back of the van, though if they had been free they would have put up no resistance, Peek said.

"They're really friendly. They're very socialized. They show about every week," he explained.

Rickard said she has shown her dogs and clients' dogs at the Eukanuba show in Long Beach, the second largest in the nation,

BELLFLOWER, CALIF. -- Kristina Rickard, of Redding Calif., after her van was stolen with four show dogs inside on November 30, 2010, in Bellflower, Calif. (Jeff Gritchen / Press-Telegram)
in the past.

She and Peek planned to travel this year to New York for the Westminster Dog Show, the largest in the country, he said.

Unless they find the four missing dogs, however, they won't be showing at either event, Rickard said.

"It's too hard. They're our dogs. They're like our kids," Houser said.

The dogs have microchips injected in their backs that help with identification and all area animal shelters have been notified of their theft, Peek said.

Sheriff's Department deputies said a description of the van and the dogs has been shared with Southland law enforcement agencies.

The vehicle is a Chevy Express cargo van with a black box on back and with dog-paw stickers on the windows. The license plate number is 8D50252.

Anyone who sees the van is urged to call 911.

11/30/2010 9:42 PM EST Update From LA Times

4 competitive show dogs are stolen in Bellflower

November 30, 2010 | 3:16 pm
A champion Akita headed for one of the country’s biggest invitational dog shows and three other competition dogs vanished Tuesday when the van they spent the night in was stolen from a Bellflower parking lot.

6a00d8341c630a53ef0147e045e3a6970b-800wiTrace, a 3-year-old male Akita slated to compete in the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship in Long Beach this weekend, along with a 10-month-old female Akita named Didi and two Pembroke Welsh Corgis -- Bunny, 2, and Peter, 1-- were discovered to be missing at 6:30 a.m. at the Motel 6 lot.

“These dogs are our family,” said David Peek, who owns Didi. His girlfriend, Kristina Rickard, is one of the owners of Trace. “They are not just pets. You pretty much stole our kids, so just give them back.”

Authorities were searching for the stolen cargo van, a white, 2006 Chevy Express with the California license plate 8D50252. The heavy-coated dogs had spent the cool night in the van -- a standard procedure, said Peek, who travels the show circuit with dogs.

Keeping the dogs indoors “would be kind of like a person wearing a coat in Arizona -- even with the air conditioning on,” Peek said.

It’s common for owners of competition dogs to travel to shows in RVs with their animals and stay on the site of the show. At the AKC show this weekend, many competitors -- and their people -- will stay in RVs parked on site at the Long Beach Convention Center.

Peek and Rickard -- who live in Redding, Calif. -- often stay in motels and park their van right outside their motel window, running an extension cord to a fan they put in the van to cool the dogs even more.

“We weren’t able to do that at this site,” Peek said. “But it was so cool last night it didn’t matter.”

Peek said they cracked the windows about an inch for the dogs and locked the doors. The Akita, Trace, is registered in the weekend competition as a Grand Champion under the official name “Dream Hi's I Got My Game On.”

The other Akita, Didi, and the two Corgis -- whose owners are in Japan -- were expected to compete in other local competitions scheduled in the days before the AKC/Eukanuba show. Southern California is just one stop in a nearly month long tour, Peek said.

“They all travel a lot,” said Tamara Houser, who is accompanying the owners and the dogs. “They have more miles under their little toes that a lot of people do.”

The group also has a Boxer puppy, a Parson Russell terrier, and a Brittany with them. Those dogs slept in the motel Monday night.

Peek declined to put a price on Trace -- "he’s priceless" -- or the other dogs. He also said he doubted the dogs were targeted by a thief.

“Not a lot of people realize what the dogs are worth,” Peek said. “I think someone just saw a cargo van with people’s stuff in it.”

Peek said they will offer a reward to anyone who can lead them to the dogs.

Anyone with information is asked to call Los Angeles County sheriff’s Det. Ron Vande Vegte at the Lakewood sheriff’s station at (562) 925-0124. They can also call David Peek at (530) 917-6846 or Tamara Houser at (661) 860-3147.

Photos: Clockwise are Trace, Peter, Bunny and Didi. Credit: Tamara Houser