EDISON – Two show dogs valued at $3,000 each were abducted from their owner’s car and went missing for four days before being recovered by the family on March 26.
According to Sgt. Robert Dudash, police public information officer, on Saturday, March 22, Faye Adcox, a 47-year-old woman from the town of Camden-Wyoming, Del., had left her two dogs, Pembroke Welsh corgis named Daddy Warbucks and Sammy, in her black 2005 Ford F150 pickup truck that was parked near the Holiday Inn off Woodbridge Avenue. She and the dogs were, according to Dudash, in Edison for a dog show at the New Jersey Convention and Expo Center.While she was away from the truck, she had left the driver-side window partially rolled down. Adcox said that she had been getting something to eat at a nearby deli and was gone for about 45 minutes.
Between 4 and 5 p.m., someone managed to enter the woman’s truck and steal both dogs as well as their cage, worth about $100, and her GPS unit, worth about $300. Adcox, who runs a road painting business with her father, said the window was open only about a quarter of an inch, to let some air in, and that the suspects needed to break the truck’s lock. Adcox believes that they were after the GPS and only noticed the dogs after gaining access to the vehicle. Adcox does not believe that the people who broke into her truck knew they were show dogs.
Daddy Warbucks is a 2-year-old male weighing about 25 pounds with red and white fur. Sammy is a 1-year-old female, also with red and white fur, weighing about 20 pounds. They are the latest in a long line of Corgis owned by Adcox, who also owned their mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.
Adcox said she quickly distributed information about the missing dogs, and she credited public awareness with getting the dogs back, as well as help from a group called Rescue Inc., which she said tracked her GPS and "rattled a bunch of cages."
She said her family was contacted on March 26 and was told that Daddy Warbucks and Sammy had been turned over to the Newark (Del.) Humane Society. She went to pick them up that night. She said that right now, the two dogs are in good health but were shaken by the experience. They are reportedly more shy than normal and show a little more anxiety about being alone. They are taking classes on dealing with strange people. Still, she says that while she would prefer them to be home where they are safe, she plans to eventually take part in more dog shows in the future.