Sorry to hear about the current outcome.

After hearing the story, I did a search on Pet Talk, and saw where you had introduced Tobey as a dog you had found as a stray. I hesitated yesterday, to bring it up, but figured the person holding the dog was the original owner - and I was right, yes? If they are cruel to the dog, report them to the humane society and have the dog taken away from them.

There are so many dogs that need good homes that it seems silly to me to fight over a dog UNLESS they are mistreating it. If they are, then I would go after them with full tilt.

There was a situation with a cat in my neighborhood that seemed to be the same - a seemingly stray, unspayed, skinny, lonely and aways on our porch. A neighbor took the cat in, took it to the vet - saved its life as it had an infection and was about to die - THEN the owners of the cat showed up. Liz, the new owner just said NO to the original owners and they went away. They have lots of other pets etc. The really stupid part to this story is that Liz had an alergy to cats and was unable to keep it for long and we ended up finding a better home for it.

I feel sorry for you. Who knows, you may end up with Tobey some day! I would not try to lure the dog back because it sounds as though the original owner would come for the dog - and it would start all over again.

Keep us posted, please. I am sure your heart is broken.