Meet Vango, an adorable five-month-old Australian shepherd who may have played a role in his own rescue after he alerted the staff at a pet store in Gatineau, Quebec about his potential dognapping. It all happened on a regular Monday when Vango visited the store with a couple who usually came in to purchase cat food. According to Yves Jodoin, one of the store’s staff members and a dog trainer, Vango was barking and pawing at him, trying to capture his attention.
Jodoin was worried when he noticed that the couple didn’t seem to have basic knowledge about the dog such as its age, whether it was sterilized, its food preferences and how much they had spent on him. Despite him giving the dog biscuits, it continued to bark. One of Jodoin’s coworkers checked social media for reports of stolen dogs and found a photo of Vango who had been reported missing from his home in Buckingham, Quebec just two and a half hours earlier. It was then that Jodoin realized that he had trained Vango when he was a puppy. He called out Vango’s name and the dog responded by jumping and barking, trying to convey that it was not the dog the couple claimed it was.
According to witnesses, the couple claimed to have found the dog in the woods. The woman expressed her desire to keep the dog as a support animal due to her poor health and financial constraints. However, with several witnesses present, Jodoin convinced the couple to surrender the dog and promptly contacted the legal owner, Josée Francoeur. Upon receiving the call, Francoeur was overcome with emotion and could not speak without crying. She explained that Vango, who was not microchipped, went missing from her enclosed yard around 9 a.m on Monday. She immediately posted notices on social media and the local SPCA site for missing animals. In tears, she searched the area and even sought help from a police officer who filed an official report for the missing dog. Francoeur remains puzzled about who could have abducted Vango.
As she was losing hope, her phone suddenly rang. Francoeur expressed her gratitude for the people who found her dog in a pet store, saying that if it weren’t for them, she would have lost her furry friend forever. However, she also mentioned that she filed a police complaint against the couple for their irresponsible behavior and wants them to realize the seriousness of their actions.
Francoeur expressed that she doesn’t wish to cause any problems for the couple who took her dog. She acknowledged that she doesn’t know their motives for taking the dog but emphasized that they took away her baby. She hopes that her experience will deter others from committing similar acts. The Gatineau police are looking into the matter, but they need to determine if the couple intentionally stole the dog or merely found it before pressing charges.
The SPCA de L’Outaouais is utilizing the incident of a couple renaming their dog to urge dog owners to have their pets microchipped. The couple had visited the establishment that morning to complete the process of changing their pet’s name. In response, Francoeur stated that she has made an appointment to have Vango microchipped, emphasizing that the whole situation could have been avoided.
