Harlee, pomeranian

Custody battle over dog ends in couple’s favor
Runaway Pomeranian was at center of lawsuit over pet’s adoption
Kevin Graman, The Spokesman-Review
October 13, 2010 - Updated: October 14, 6:02 a.m.



Marsha and Richard Graham are reunited with their dog Harlee at SpokAnimal Care Tuesday afternoon as the dog returned to their custody after a long court battle.


Harlee has come home.

The black Pomeranian who ran away more than three years ago has been reunited with a Spokane County family after a court battle that went all the way to the Washington state Court of Appeals.

On Tuesday, Richard and Marcia Graham greeted Harlee – who was a little heavier and a little grayer than they remember – at SpokAnimal Care, which featured prominently in a lawsuit the Grahams filed against a Spokane man who adopted the dog in July 2007.

Superior Court Judge Sam Cozza ruled on Monday that Harlee should be returned to the Grahams because SpokAnimal did not have the authority to adopt him out to James Notti, of Spokane, in the first place.

“The judge let me tell my whole story,” Marcia Graham said. “That was surprising because our case was based solely on where the dog was found.”

In November 2007, the Court of Appeals for Division III remanded the case back to Superior Court after Judge Gregory Sypolt dismissed it, leaving Harlee with Notti.

The Appeals Court ruled the case hinges on whether Harlee was found in Spokane city or county. The woman who found him turned him over to SpokAnimal.

Harlee’s tale began July 17, 2007, when he wandered away from the Grahams’ Marshall-area home. The Grahams posted signs, contacted animal shelters, and placed ads in the Cheney Free Press and on Web sites, including the one run by SpokAnimal.

Fewer than two weeks after he disappeared, Harlee was found by Jolee Wilke, who turned the dog over to SpokAnimal on July 29.

On the day SpokAnimal accepted Harlee, Notti requested the dog. He adopted the Pomeranian after the requisite 72-hour waiting period.

About a month later, the Grahams learned their dog’s fate from Wilke’s daughter, a former classmate of the Grahams’ daughter. The family went to SpokAnimal, where officials contacted Notti. But he would not give up his new pet.

However, Richard Graham had caught a glimpse of the dog’s new owner’s name on a SpokAnimal computer screen, and the family went looking for Harlee.

The Grahams found the dog at Notti’s home, but Notti wouldn’t give him up, even after the Grahams’ offered to buy him a replacement Pomeranian.

So the Grahams sued Notti, claiming through their attorneys at Gonzaga University Legal Assistance that Notti did not obtain a valid title to Harlee because SpokAnimal has no authority to adopt out a dog found outside the city.

SpokAnimal officials said they were told at the time that the dog was found in the city, where it has authority to impound and adopt out stray animals.

But Wilke, who lives not far from the Grahams’ Marshall-area home, said she found Harlee chasing chickens in her backyard in Spokane County, where SCRAPS has authority over animal control.

Cozza was convinced and ordered the transfer.

The trial was the first for third-year law student Jason Perdue, who represented the Grahams before Cozza, and the first dog trial for the GU legal clinic.

“It felt good to be able to reunite the Grahams with their dog,” said Perdue, whose name means “lost” in French.

“I feel good about having him back,” Richard Graham said as Harlee nuzzled his wife.

Notti declined comment.

After leaving SpokAnimal with their pet, the Grahams dropped by the law school to show the staff what they had worked three years to achieve.

About a dozen professors, students and staff members gathered in the lobby of the law clinic’s offices to see the dog, including law professor George Critchlow, whose argument convinced the Appeals Court, and Terry Sawyer, who supervises Perdue.

Sawyer said legal assistance should take more dog cases because “people are willing to litigate to the end.”

As for Harlee – he turns 5 years old today. That’s only about 37 in dog years.

Source: http://m.spokesman.com/stories/2010/oct/13/custody-battle-over-dog-ends-in-couples-favor/

Also see: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2013545096_dogcustodybattle.html?syndication=rss
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Deuce, yorkie

Elderly woman reunited with stolen dog
Thursday, November 11, 2010

ALAMEDA, Calif. (KGO) -- A Yorkshire terrier was returned to its owner Wednesday evening after being stolen during a purse snatch in Alameda.

Deuce is back home in Alameda -- much to the delight of 80-year-old Helen Bignone.

"I am so overwhelmed that he came back. He's just so, everything is just great" she said.

The 6-year-old Yorkie was stolen on Oct. 30 when Bignone was out for a walk near her home. She tried to hang onto the Yorkie's leash, but let go when one robber claimed to have a gun.

"You know, stealing purses is something we all hear about, but to take your dog," she said.

What the robbers didn't know is that Deuce has a microchip implanted under his skin. Alameda police identified the car used in the robbery, traced Bignone's stolen credit cards and arrested a 19-year-old suspect, who claimed he abandoned the little dog in a Stockton park.

A transient couple then found deuce and sold him for $20 to a woman, who called detectives.

"It wasn't until the afternoon before she called and she saw one of the news reports and sort of put two and two together," Lt. Sean Lynch from Alameda Police Department said. "We utilized the help of Stockton Animal Control to scan the chip and make sure the dog was in fact Deuce."

Not only is Deuce home safe from his 11-day adventure, but police also recovered Helen's purse.

"Purse doesn't even hold a candle to getting you back," Bignone said.

"They really picked the wrong grandma to rob of a purse and a dog, they really did." Bignone's granddaughter Stephanie Bignone said.

Before deuce was snatched, Bignone and the dog would go on long walks around the neighborhood, and now that they are reunited, they will continue to do so.

Source: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/east_bay&id=7780850
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Sugar, maltese

Stolen dog reunited with south Fort Myers owners
news-press.com
November 20, 2010

A Maltese, stolen Friday during a burglary, was returned safely to its rightful owners later that day.

Shortly after noon Friday, Lee County sheriff's deputies responded to Pine Hammock Circle in south Fort Myers in reference to a burglary. The victims advised that their home had been forcibly entered while they were away. The suspect or suspects ransacked the home, stealing various items including a computer, a flat-screen television, money, jewelry and the couple’s pet dog, an 8-year-old Maltese named Sugar.

During the evening hours on Friday, deputies were called to the Publix at Summerlin Road and Colonial Boulevard. One of the clerks told deputies a regular customer had returned to the store after shopping and said he found a dog in his car. The customer had left his windows down in the Publix parking lot while he shopped. The clerk said she recognized the dog, which had been featured in media reports throughout the day. The dog was unharmed and has been reunited with its owners.

The investigation into the burglary continues.

Source: http://www.news-press.com/article/20101120/CRIME/101120014/Stolen-dog-reunited-with-south-Fort-Myers-owners
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Katie, sheltie

Lost dog found after 25 days at Lake Crescent
By Leah Leach, Peninsula Daily News
November 21. 2010 2:01AM

LAKE CRESCENT -- Katie, a sheltie who was lost for more than three weeks, is now home safe.


Katie, a Shetland sheepdog who was lost for more than three weeks, is home again with John and Donna Fabian. The Fabians live in the Port Ludlow-Shine area near Hood Canal.

She was brought home Friday "after 25 days in the wilderness," thin, but apparently healthy, said John Fabian, 71.

"I'm kind of an old fellow, and I've been down through a lot in my life, but it brought me to tears."

Fabian is a former NASA space shuttle astronaut and a founder of the Hood Canal Coalition, an environmental group that opposes industrialization of Hood Canal.

He and his wife, Donna, live in the Port Ludlow-Shine area near the Canal.

Mrs. Fabian spent a sleepless night in a cold car before she saw the Shetland sheepdog and coaxed it to her as she knelt on a trail near the Olympic Park Institute on Lake Crescent on Thursday afternoon.

"She's our Thanksgiving miracle," she said.

Two get reward

The reunion resulted in a Thanksgiving gift for two other people as well.

They had spotted the dog and notified the Fabians, who had offered a $1,000 reward for Katie's return.

Fabian contributed $250 to the Association of National Park Rangers in the name of Mark O'Neill, an Olympic National Park ranger, and wrote a second check for $750 to Maggie Van Catfort of the Olympic Park Institute.

O'Neill reported last week the first sighting of the 4-year-old dog since she had run off from the Fabians during a visit to the lake Oct. 24.

The Fabians, who had owned her for only three months, and the dog's breeder, Cindy Wilson of Bremerton, searched for her the first week and nailed up posters near the Lake Crescent Lodge, which is about 20 miles west of Port Angeles.

After a story in the Peninsula Daily News, the Fabians received calls of commiseration from other dog lovers -- but no one reported seeing the 4-year-old sheltie.

"We decided it was fruitless until we had a sighting," Fabian said. "We didn't know where to search."

That changed Wednesday with the call from O'Neill, who had spotted the dog on the road between the entrance to the lodging area and the lodge itself.

"He followed her slowly in the car as she traveled down the road, then lost track of her," Fabian said.

Mrs. Fabian and Wilson raced up to the lake, picking up a live animal trap from the Olympic Peninsula Humane Society on the way, and spent the night in their cars outside Lake Crescent Lodge, which is closed for the season.

Snow on ground

When they awakened, snow lay on the ground.

"We hardly slept at all, it was so cold," Mrs. Fabian said.

And they hadn't thought to bring breakfast.

"We made sure we had dog food, but we didn't have food for ourselves," she said.

They snacked on some Kashi bars Mrs. Fabian found in her glove compartment, set up the trap with the help of some workmen -- and continued to search.

"We felt we had to get her that day or the next because . . . it was so cold," she said.

At about 4 p.m., a call came in on Wilson's cell phone.

Spotted on beach

Van Catfort had spotted a sheltie on the beach near the Olympic Park Institute and had called numbers she found on posters -- first the Fabians' home, then Wilson's cell.

"We were yards away from her when she called," Mrs. Fabian said.

"Cindy said, 'We are right here. We will be there in seconds."

When Mrs. Fabian saw Katie, she dropped to her knees and pulled out food, speaking softly to the dog.

"She walked back and forth, very nervous, and finally took the food. I grabbed her collar," she said.

Fabian had delivered supplies to the two women, updated the posters and returned to the Port Townsend area to get another trap from the Jefferson County Humane Society.

"While I was getting the trap, my wife called and said, 'We have the dog.'"

O'Neill and Van Catfort recognized the dog because of the posters the Fabians had put up -- and because of the PDN.

"We had been up there and everybody we had talked to said, is this the dog that was in the paper?

"The PDN did an amazing amount of good," Fabian said.

Mrs. Fabian and Wilson stayed overnight at Indian Valley Motel, part of the complex that includes Granny's Cafe, which allowed the dogs to stay with them.

They brought Katie home about a half-hour before the Fabians were interviewed.

"She's excited to be here. . . . She's very thin. She's extraordinarily hungry," Fabian said.

Wilson, who Fabian described as "an amazing dog lady," had owned Katie for three years before the Fabians adopted her, and had dog-sat Katie while the Fabians were out of the country for three weeks.

"This was like a loss for her family, too," Fabian said.

Katie, who the Fabians figure lived on bear droppings and other unsavory fare, was to be taken to the vet for a check-up.

And the couple now has "increased security awareness," as Fabian put it.

"We're going to be awfully careful about not allowing her to bolt away. . . . She's going to have to learn how to go out and poop on a leash."

Source: http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20101121/NEWS/311219985/lost-dog-found-after-25-days-at-lake-crescent