The two months have been very emotional for both Mika Yeo and her small dog Dougal. (Facebook)

By Nigel Maxwell

Pet owner awareness

Prince Albert woman re-united with stolen dog

Apr 27, 2023 | 3:02 PM

Prince Albert’s Mika Yeo is hoping her story can encourage other pet owners to be more cautious.

On Valentine’s Day while visiting her grandmother, Yeo had let her then six month old cairn terrier out into the back yard. A few minutes later, when she returned to let him back in, Dougal was missing without a trace.

“At first I was feeling like the worst dog owner ever because I’ve never owned a dog, and within the first five minutes of ever letting my eyes off of him, he got out of the yard,” she said.

Yeo remained optimistic and figured somebody would Dougal pick up and report it. And so she made numerous postings all over social media, called the SPCA, and even hung up posters advertising a $1,000 reward. Sadly though no one called and days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months, forcing Yeo to consider the worst.

“There was a lynx in town at the time, so I thought, ‘oh my god, what if the lynx got him,'” she said.

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Then adding to Yeo’s emotional trauma were the calls from scammers, who would claimed to have Dougal, but did not have any proof, and just demanded money.

Dougal is enjoying life back at home. (Facebook)

Still determined, Yeo never gave up and continued to update her social media posts. Finally she did receive an online message, from a stranger who claimed the dog was up in Sandy Bay, and informed Yeo that upon receipt of the money, they would do their best to get the dog back to her.

Through continued discussion Yeo was able to convince the stranger to give her the man’s name and while advised he was bad news, and would possibly move the dog to another location, Yeo called the man herself and shared her story. To her surprise, the man agreed to bring the dog to Prince Albert.

“It’s so hard to have hope after two months of having him missing. But as soon as he pulled up in the parking lot, I recognized [Dougal] in the vehicle and it was my boy, afterall,” she said, adding the man was actually very nice and explained he had bought the dog at a house in Flin Flin, and claimed to have no idea it had been stolen.

The man also noted there were a number of other dogs in the house.

“We were both kinda speculating that these were stolen dogs that someone was shipping up there to re-sell,” she said.

Reflecting back on when she bought Dougal, Yeo explained she had been battling depression and saw the dog as a reason to get up everyday.

“It’s like the one thing I’ve loved in a long time and having him taken from me, stolen and re-sold, it basically crushed me,” she said.

Now a lot more cautious when letting Dougal out, Yeo encouraged other pet owners to make sure their own yards are well secured and to make sure their pets are micro-chipped. Through her own research, Yeo has also learned there’s various GPS tracking devices available.

Thankfully this story has a happy ending and Dougal appears happy to be home.

“He remembers all his toys and of course the cats who aren’t quite as pleased he’s returned but have accepted hm again,” she said.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell