[yorkietalkjilly]

If you haven't, I would call the police to alert them. It could be kids out for themselves or out working for adults to steal easy-to-get dogs in exchange for a few dollars. I'm so glad you went out when you did - just in time! I'm positive the same kind of thing almost happened to me and Tibbe! The first Christmas I had Tibbe I was standing on the back porch as Tibbe went outside to pee and I stepped inside the Utility Porch after a cold wind chilled me to the bone. I peeked back out the door, Tibbe was racing around chasing squirrels and having a ball in the cold wind(he loves cold weather) and I came into the den, sat by the huge window and just watched him living the life! Soon a small car came down the alley and slowed a bit as the 4 adult Yuppie-types smiled and leaned to look at Tibbe, drove on. I watched TV and Tibbe and called him to come in after a while but he stood in the middle of the yard in the wind as if to say "5 more minutes please mommie" and looked so determined to stay out playing as the squirrels were dancing along the fence tops and chirping, I gave in. I came back into the den by the big window, that car reappeared driving slowly but passed on by and in 2 minutes was back having turned at the end of the alley and come back a third time. It slowed to a stop right in back of my boat gate and a 30-something man and woman got out, started walking toward the gate latch. I tore from the den through the Utility Porch and out the back, saying something really loud - can't recall a word I said, and calling Tibbe, who had seen them coming in his direction back near the gate and started running back toward the house. He came to me immediately & I scooped him up, ran into the house, locked all the doors and sat again by the window and shook with Tibbe in my arms. This is what clinched the group's intent in my mind: The pair immediately turned as soon as I appeared in the back door, without a smile or a word, made for the car and the driver sped off fast! Now if they had been getting out to just admire Tibbe or check his breed specifics out up close, twirl fingers through the fence, etc., when they saw me they would have said something like "don't worry, we were just admiring your little dog and wanted to pet him through the fence" or something friendly, understanding my worry! Instead, they bolted and that driver floored it! I know they wanted to steal Tibbe!

I called the police and told them about it just in case they might be trolling our neighborhood for dogs, alerting police to their presence in the area at Christmastime. One doesn't usually suspect a newer, compact car full of Yuppies of anything criminal so they could just cruise around as long as it took if someone didn't know what just happened. Getting a cutie like Tibbe & other purebred dogs from the neighborhood to sell at some Christmas Fair or flea market could turn them some fast money that time of the year, I'm pretty sure. The Dispatcher thanked me, took all details of the car, sex/race/age of the people in it and said they would send a man out to check that car out and its reason for being in the neighborhood or something like that and said an officer would report to me, which I declined. I hope the PD did send a car and scared them away as I'm pretty certain 2 adult couples wouldn't be out cruising neighborhood alleys in cold, windy weather and acting the way they did, how they reacted when they saw me, had their motives been pure. Made me so mad and scared. What if I'd chosen that moment to go to the restroom, come back to the window and my little Tibbe no where on the premises - never to be seen again! Since then, I have key locks on both gates and I stay on the back porch with him & sometimes do step behind the door for a bit if it's very cold or raining until he's done his business and/or playing, but I'm always on alert if I see any people in that alley when he's outside and always just call him in immediately. After that episode, I realized how fast someone, child or adult, could jump over that fence/come thru that gate, corral Tibbe & be gone given the opportunity. So it always pays to be on guard nearby & able to call your dog in should people show up in your alley.