February 25, 2008

COLLEGE GROVE, Tenn. – A kidnapping is every parent’s worst nightmare, but for several Tennessee families, it’s their four-legged, furry kids that have been whisked away.

In the quiet, usually crime-free town of College Grove, several families have had their American Kennel Club-registered pets stolen from their residential properties.

The families are worried that the pure-breeds might have fallen into the hands of someone hoping to make a quick buck by selling them at a local flea market.

A Saint Bernard named Morris has been missing from the Brown family for weeks.

“I just think that they got up close to the road, and somebody just dropped the tailgate and picked him up,” Jim Brown, Morris’ owner, said. “He was that kind of dog. He was very lovable, very gentle, very kid oriented.”

For the Toddy family, who lives just two miles away, their Australian Shepherd, named Chester, has also gone missing.

“This Thursday will be two weeks, and surely somebody has seen him,” Chester’s owner Laura Toddy said.

Unfortunately, the Brown and Toddy families aren’t the only ones in the community missing their beloved pets. Flyers blanket the window and door of the College Grove Market with the faces of lost dogs.

“You just don’t have that many purebred dogs come up missing all within two or three days of each other,” Toddy said.

In an area where crime has never been a problem, residents are baffled by the missing canines, most which have been gone for about three weeks.

Desperate pet owners hope that signs posted at the College Grove Market, the community’s focal point, will help them find their missing animals.

“We encourage people to bring signs down and put posters up and leave their telephone numbers and descriptions,” said a College Grove Market worker.

In the meantime, Jenny Brown has covered hundreds of miles driving around the region looking for her dog and posting at least 100 fliers.

“I get up every day and (there’s) another lead. If I have someone call, and (it gives me) another direction, but I have four directions to go in, and I don’t know if I’m hitting the right one or not,” Morris’ owner Jenny Brown said.

The pet owners hope their family members are being treated well; they struggle with not knowing.

“It’s an everyday thing, because I worry if he’s eating, I just worry if he’s happy, and we want him back home,” said Brown, wife of Jim Brown. “Our boys (worry), he’s their dog, too, and he’s just part of our family.”

Anyone with information about the stolen dogs can call the College Grove Market at 615-368-7129.

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Special contributions to this report were made by Alan Frio, reporter with WSMV 4 News, Nashville.