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A matter involving my kidnapped dogs

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avj715

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

Tennessee

My family has just been through the most heart wrenching year topped off by these months of even more heartbreak. I am here to see if anyone can help. I had entrusted my two dogs to a friend/coworker to keep them for me for an approximate 1-2 month agreement. I was in the process of moving and was having to stay in a place where I could not keep my two dogs. She had said she would be happy to look after one of them until I found an apartment, and that her boyfriend could take the other and that when I found a place to live I could get them back. Within 2 weeks of her having my dogs, she was kicked out of her apartment where she was living with her ex-boyfriend, her child, and his mother. She left my dog there and was told by the mother in law that I was not going to get my dog back. When I called her to try and get in touch with the mother, she refused to give us any contact information. We only got their phone number once the police officer we called to come file a report ordered her to do so. When we called they claimed they had her for over 6 weeks and had taken her to the vet within the first week. I have evidence from a temporary foster that this was not the case, dating the exact time that she took custody of my dogs. I also have vet records on the 2nd dog showing that he was having surgery during this time that she did NOT have custody of the two dogs. The evidence I have is in email form from the director of the temporary foster program that was kind enough to help me when I was displaced from my home, discussing when would be a good day to come pick up my two dogs. The people in question claimed they had vet records to prove otherwise, which if they do, would obviously be falsified documents. At first they said we needed to pay them their vet cost or I would not get my dogs back, then they changed that to that I would not get the female dog who was in the custody of the ex boyfriends mother ever. I never authorized any vet care for her because she had JUST had her vaccines and an exam with the foster program, also the only person I authorized to care for her was my coworker, NOT THE MOTHER. I promptly called the police to file a police report, which I have. While this was going on the coworker, who left my dog with this woman and had been kicked out, moved to another city with the boyfriend who had my male dog. I have tried repeatedly to contact this girl to get my other dog back for months. She would not respond to any texts or calls on either number I had for her. I tried contacting her on an online social network in which we were friends, and was seeing no responses or activity on her page. I later did some digging and found that she had created another page that I was not linked to in an attempt to make me think we were still on speaking terms with a way to get in touch. This new page was chock full of activity and obviously her new one of choice. I found her boyfriend's page and was lucky enough to find his cell phone number on a public post that would have become private had it been given enough time to cycle over the publicly viewable areas. We contacted them and they at first refused to give the dog back, even after we explained that we had been trying to reach them for months to no avail. The boyfriend's father then got on the phone and apparently had little idea of what had transpired, but said that he was in fact attached to my dog and would like to keep him. We suggested a joint custody situation since my mother travels through their city of residence twice a week. This way, no one would get hurt by having to lose the little guy. He said to let him think about it and he would call back on Monday. This has been two weeks ago, and still no call. We have called and gotten no response except for the boyfriend telling us he would pass on the message. We now would like to revoke that bargain, seeing as these people will obviously make it difficult to keep any lines of communication open. I understand that they are attached, but we have raised these two, as our children from puppies for 7 and 8 years respectively. We were told to go to small claims court, but we can not seem to find out if this is where we need to be or even how we should approach this. Please if anyone could give us any advice on how to legally go about getting our pets back, I would really appreciate it. After many sleepless nights, panic attacks, tears, and exhausted efforts this has gone way too far. This is theft and I have been told by some that these people will be facing criminal charges. Where do we go from here? What can we do now? If I had been able to get in touch with these people sooner I would have but even once that hurdle was out of the way, there was still no middle ground. It is obvious that from the jump they had no intentions of returning my pets, thus the reason for the ransom vet bill ploy, the avoided calls, and the lack of communication. We are heartbroken and our two babies who are both very attached to us as well must be wondering where we are. Please tell me what to do from here. I am just lost.
 


TheGeekess

Keeper of the Kraken
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

Tennessee

My family has just been through the most heart wrenching year topped off by these months of even more heartbreak. I am here to see if anyone can help. I had entrusted my two dogs to a friend/coworker to keep them for me for an approximate 1-2 month agreement. I was in the process of moving and was having to stay in a place where I could not keep my two dogs. She had said she would be happy to look after one of them until I found an apartment, and that her boyfriend could take the other and that when I found a place to live I could get them back. Within 2 weeks of her having my dogs, she was kicked out of her apartment where she was living with her ex-boyfriend, her child, and his mother. She left my dog there and was told by the mother in law that I was not going to get my dog back. When I called her to try and get in touch with the mother, she refused to give us any contact information. We only got their phone number once the police officer we called to come file a report ordered her to do so. When we called they claimed they had her for over 6 weeks and had taken her to the vet within the first week. I have evidence from a temporary foster that this was not the case, dating the exact time that she took custody of my dogs. I also have vet records on the 2nd dog showing that he was having surgery during this time that she did NOT have custody of the two dogs. The evidence I have is in email form from the director of the temporary foster program that was kind enough to help me when I was displaced from my home, discussing when would be a good day to come pick up my two dogs. The people in question claimed they had vet records to prove otherwise, which if they do, would obviously be falsified documents. At first they said we needed to pay them their vet cost or I would not get my dogs back, then they changed that to that I would not get the female dog who was in the custody of the ex boyfriends mother ever. I never authorized any vet care for her because she had JUST had her vaccines and an exam with the foster program, also the only person I authorized to care for her was my coworker, NOT THE MOTHER. I promptly called the police to file a police report, which I have. While this was going on the coworker, who left my dog with this woman and had been kicked out, moved to another city with the boyfriend who had my male dog. I have tried repeatedly to contact this girl to get my other dog back for months. She would not respond to any texts or calls on either number I had for her. I tried contacting her on an online social network in which we were friends, and was seeing no responses or activity on her page. I later did some digging and found that she had created another page that I was not linked to in an attempt to make me think we were still on speaking terms with a way to get in touch. This new page was chock full of activity and obviously her new one of choice. I found her boyfriend's page and was lucky enough to find his cell phone number on a public post that would have become private had it been given enough time to cycle over the publicly viewable areas. We contacted them and they at first refused to give the dog back, even after we explained that we had been trying to reach them for months to no avail. The boyfriend's father then got on the phone and apparently had little idea of what had transpired, but said that he was in fact attached to my dog and would like to keep him. We suggested a joint custody situation since my mother travels through their city of residence twice a week. This way, no one would get hurt by having to lose the little guy. He said to let him think about it and he would call back on Monday. This has been two weeks ago, and still no call. We have called and gotten no response except for the boyfriend telling us he would pass on the message. We now would like to revoke that bargain, seeing as these people will obviously make it difficult to keep any lines of communication open. I understand that they are attached, but we have raised these two, as our children from puppies for 7 and 8 years respectively. We were told to go to small claims court, but we can not seem to find out if this is where we need to be or even how we should approach this. Please if anyone could give us any advice on how to legally go about getting our pets back, I would really appreciate it. After many sleepless nights, panic attacks, tears, and exhausted efforts this has gone way too far. This is theft and I have been told by some that these people will be facing criminal charges. Where do we go from here? What can we do now? If I had been able to get in touch with these people sooner I would have but even once that hurdle was out of the way, there was still no middle ground. It is obvious that from the jump they had no intentions of returning my pets, thus the reason for the ransom vet bill ploy, the avoided calls, and the lack of communication. We are heartbroken and our two babies who are both very attached to us as well must be wondering where we are. Please tell me what to do from here. I am just lost.
Nobody is going to read that huge block of text. Paragraphs are your friend. :cool:
 

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