And here is why: His name is Reggae, and he’s our best friend for 6 years now. Reggae Moved to Amsterdam 1 year ago. These days, we spend almost all the time together, because I and my husband work from home.
Before we moved here we had our own company, so Reggae was with us in the office every day as well. So I probably don’t need to tell You that he is quite used to being busy with us. We bring him everywhere for years now. To make this even more interesting, once Reggae was even on a stage in front of hundreds of people, as me and my husband were giving a lecture.
So What Happened?
2019 October 10 started like any other Sunday… We just grabbed Reggae and left for a long walk. We stay at home a lot, so all three of us enjoy long 10–20km walks at least once a week.
On that Sunday we took all day walk trough Amsterdam and as we were getting close to home… we decided to go to a supermarket in Amsterdam Noord, quite close to where we live, to quickly grab a few things before we head home.
We left Reggae outside tied to the special hooks that are there to leave Your dogs. Reggae is not a huge fan of staying near shops but there was never a problem with him staying. If we need to leave him, we usually buy him some snacks so he has something to wait for.
We just grabbed a couple of things, some snacks for Reggae paid and left the store. My husband and I came back to pick him up after less than 10 minutes.
Reggae was gone!
The strangest thing struck us both instantly — his leash was there but he must have been released! Because the harness he was wearing was not there. That means Reggae still has his harness with his name on. That could only mean one thing — somebody intentionally unclipped our dog while we were shopping.
Instant reaction from both of us was that one of us has to check with store security — if they have a video of somebody taking our dog, we need to know now! I went to supermarket security, to ask them to rewind camera footage…while my husband started walking around the block and looking for our dog.
It took a couple of minutes to find the right person, but I managed to do so and soon enough I was looking true security tapes. The problem was clear instantly! All the cameras outside barely film anything around the place where you can tie your dog. Our dog was not visible by any of the security cameras.
We Have to Act Fast
By this time I was speaking with my husband on the phone and we met outside. The security guy was standing beside me and he decided to act fast.
The security guy immediately asked help from the ‘’Straat Coaches” (they are like the neighborhood youth heroes from an organization that works toward safe and livable streets). We explained the situation and showed them some pictures. Both of them immediately jumped on their bikes and rushed down towards where they thought they might have seen our dog (they patrol on their bikes all around the neighbourhood).
My husband pulled me aside and told me to stay here while he will walk to our home, pack all the stuff we need and bring both of our bikes here. So we can start searching for Reggae. He hugged me as I was on the verge of crying and left.
I think it’s very important for everybody to know about situations like this because while I was waiting — I spoke to the guy from security and he told me that things like this happen quite a lot. Moreover in some of the cases, dogs are actually stolen. I asked him “for what reasons they steal dogs?” and he said, “You don’t want to know”.
By this time my husband was already home packing flashlights, extra leashes, and other stuff we might need if this takes the whole night. I was waiting outside the supermarket asking people if they saw anything (there are some bars around) — we spoke on the phone and decided that we will call the police as he comes here because my husband is bringing the dog documents with him.
By This Point, I Was Literally Crying
My husband told me to wait as he is now jumping on the bikes and we ended our conversation. By this point, I was literally crying, but inside I knew — we walk around the neighborhood so much, poor Reggae will definitely be found by us. If! He was not stollen. Because what kind of animal would steal a dog? Bad thoughts about what people who steal dogs could be doing to Reggae were making things even worse.
Stream of relief went through me as I a minute later answered my phone and my husband told me — found him! To be honest, I was so shocked that it took my husband to repeat it a couple of times for me to get what happened.
We don’t know what actually happened and who released him, but Reggae is a smart dog and he just ran back to his house. Well at least to the garden closest to our house. Wow, such orientated, so guided, such a good boy.
Gladly, we walk a lot with Reggae and he knows where he lives very well, he knows the whole neighborhood as we always try to find new interesting paths around (Amsterdam is such an amazing place to live!) I’m so happy that everything ended well, but I was told that it doesn’t to a lot of people who leave their dogs outside the supermarket… We are never leaving our dog alone near the supermarket if we need to buy anything there ever again. That’s for sure.
The question still stays…he did not unleash himself for sure — it’s simply not possible. Who in his right mind would release a dog?
It could have been the worse day in our life so far. Lesson learned, will never leave my dog outside the shop ever again. PLEASE BE CAREFUL, GUYS. I love Amsterdam, but some people are evil here too!
