Tina Waite was devastated when her children’s dog ran away from their Brandon Township yard during a blizzard in December.
Last week, she was thrilled to find the dog, a lhasa apso named ‘Gizmo,? outside of a home in the 5200 block of Oakhill Road. But her joy was shortlived. The people who reside at the home where Gizmo has been for five months refuse to return him.
Waite, now an Oxford resident, says she looked everywhere for the tiny dog in the weeks that followed his disappearance from her former mobile home in the 4300 block of Hazel Court, but without any luck. Last week, that changed when she picked up her daughter, MeKare, 12, from Brandon Middle School and took a different route home. To her amazement, she saw the missing Gizmo, chained and lying in the driveway of the Oakhill home.
‘I turned the car around and pulled in the driveway and said, ‘Gizzy, Gizzy,? and my daughter was crying and we were petting him and a man came out of the house,? recalled Waite. ‘I told him, ‘This is my dog,? and he said, ‘No, it isn’t,? and I said, ‘Yes, he ran away from home.? He said, ‘What do you want me to do about it???
Waite says she told the man she wanted him to give the dog back and he told her he’d have to talk to his wife about it. She gave him her phone number on May 16, but he never called. On May 18, she drove back to the Oakhill home with her original purchase receipt for Gizmo, but when her boyfriend approached the home, where Gizmo was again chained and outside, a woman at the residence pulled the dog to her on a leash and refused to speak to them. Waite called police.
Brandon deputies responded and according to police reports, the man who had possession of the dog also called dispatch and said he had the dog, but wouldn’t return him because he had taken all the necessary steps and it was now his dog.
The man and woman at the residence refused to identify themselves to the deputies, who ascertained who they were by their vehicle registrations. The woman told the deputies they had no jurisdiction there, because the residence was in Independence Township. The deputies explained that Independence was in Oakland County, and as Oakland County Sheriff’s Office deputies, they were within their jurisdiction. The man told the deputies the dog showed up in a snowstorm five months ago and he had tried to find the owners, but couldn’t. He said they loved the dog, and now it was theirs.
The deputies tried to explain the situation to the man, but, according to the report, he exploded in a fit of anger, yelled a profanity and told them to get off his property, they had no right to be there.
The deputies left and told Waite she needed to pursue it as a civil matter.
She plans to. Besides the receipt, Waite had provided the police with a microchip number for the dog, who had a chip implanted in his neck by the breeder. Waite had never called Pet Tracks to register the dog as hers, but did so this week. She has also learned that the man who has her dog, who did not return calls for comment, has done the same thing. She assumes he got the chip number from having a vet scan Gizmo.
Waite, who had hoped to have the dog home soon for her daughter and her son, Maxwell, 8, said she has obtained paperwork and will file it at 52-2 District Court, where court clerks have told her she has two options: either seek to get the dog back or ask for $1,200, what she paid for Gizmo.
‘The money isn’t the issue, we just want the dog back,? she said. ‘I’d do anything to have the dog back for my kids. I don’t know how people can be so heartless and so mean, especially when there is a kid crying her eyes out because she sees her dog and he won’t give him to her.?