[taje]

Not a Yorkie but sad all the same!! Scary too it could happen to us!!

Best friend stolen before man's eyes
The English bulldog was taken from his owner's truck at the Palm City post office. The owner fought back but was unable to stop the thieves.
By Gabriel Margasak
staff writer
June 15, 2005

PALM CITY — Handsome Hoss, an English bulldog pup who gives a high-five with his paw, didn't even yelp as he was dognapped from inside a running and unlocked truck as his owner retrieved mail at the Palm City post office.

"He's everybody's best friend. That's the problem. If he had snapped at (the thief), he wouldn't have got him," dog owner Traver Boettcher said Tuesday. "Please, just give me my dog back because I'm worried for his well-being."

The anxiety-filled search for Hoss continued Tuesday; Martin County sheriff's deputies fear he was stolen for use as dog-fighting bait.

Boettcher, 36, pleaded for Hoss' quick return because the 5-month-old, 50-pound pooch needs special care and food.

The theft occurred about 4:26 p.m. Monday outside the post office on Martin Highway as Boettcher retrieved mail from the post office box for his business, Artisan Trim Inc., he told deputies and reporters.

He left Hoss in the cab of his Ford F-350 truck for just a few seconds with the engine running and the air conditioning blowing.

The moment he walked out of the post office, he saw a man grab Hoss and head toward a getaway car.

"He threw it in the passenger side to the other guy," Boettcher said. "I wanted my dog back. I wasn't thinking of any danger."

So he grabbed the man who snatched his dog and pinned him against the steering wheel of the getaway car.

"I was slapping him around," said the stocky, tattooed dog owner. The thief "had the look in his eyes. He was scared."

The dognapper gave up and said "take the dog," while the other man in the thief's car sat quietly.

"I thought, 'grab the dog and go,' " Boettcher said, but the men drove off as soon as he let go of the driver.

Boettcher ran after the car and asked a man on a motorcycle to follow it, but the thieves disappeared. He called 911.

"I'm really mad at myself for not getting more physical with him and making sure he was incapable of leaving, but I really thought I had my dog back and let him go," Boettcher said.

His thoughts Tuesday turned to handing out fliers and letting the thieves know Hoss is no fighting dog. The $2,000 English bulldog he waited 15 years to be able to afford needs special care to survive.

"They can't be outside in the heat. They'll get too hot and die. They have to have special food or they'll have stomach problems," he said. "They're not a regular dog."

Boettcher described the dog thieves as black with brown eyes and close to 6 feet tall with corn rows in their hair. One was wearing a white tank top and baggy shorts and had gold teeth. The thieves escaped in a red, midsize sedan with a spoiler that resembled a Ford Taurus.

"I feel like he ripped my heart out," Boettcher said of the thief. "He's my boy."

Boettcher is offering an unspecified reward, and anyone with information in the case is asked to call deputies at (772) 220-7060.

- gabriel.margasak@scripps