On Sunday, Aug. 12, my dog Dante was taken from me.
We were having a family camping trip, my aunt had been through some medical issues and we arranged the trip because we hadn’t all camped together for many years. My grandma attended the trip and it was the first time we had all camped together. In total, on the trip we had nine people and eight dogs and we had a great time: until the abduction.
The morning of Aug. 12 is one that I will never forget, because it’s the last time I saw my dog. While we were doing the final rounds of packing, I loaded my dog into the pen that my family had brought. My parents dogs are rescues and have a tendency to run off and they have a nice pen. I’ve had Dante since he was a puppy and usually he has free reign and can be trusted with some level of independence. He’s a really good dog and usually follows me around but on this occasion he was in the pen with my parents two rescue dachshunds.
Dante is a 5-and-a-half year old dachshund and he’s incredibly personable and good looking, he’s about as small as a standard gets weighing in at 20 pounds. He’s got short legs and a strong build as well as a distinctive coloring and a striking widows peak. My parents’ dogs are much older and about half the size. The incident occurred between 9:15 and 9:45 a.m. Dante was not snatched up by a predator. After the fact, the ranger stated it was highly unlikely because of the geographic location of the campsite. Lake Cachuma campground is on a peninsula that extends into the lake. The campground is located just about 20 miles north of Santa Barbara; not a place you’d think you’d have to worry about this sort of thing.
In about a 30-minute window, we had just finished packing and my uncle was feeding his two Vizslas (dog breed) some Italian deli meat and I went to get Dante so he could have some.
That’s when my life changed.
He wasn’t there. You never immediately assume the worst, I thought someone had let him out because he would often whine when in the pen because he was so used to being trusted with his freedom. In his defense, he’s never done anything to warrant him being in the pen. He doesn’t run off. The campground had cleared out alarmingly quickly, what was once obstructed by tents, ez ups, and a variety of other items; was now open and bare. Dante comes when he is called, I began calling for him assuming someone had let him out of the pen, what started as me shouting for him turned into the entire family searching and calling for hours.
My family asked all the surrounding campers that remained and no one had seen anything. After the family of nine had searched the campground, lake, and surrounding area for about a hour, we notified the rangers. The rangers were very well staffed and responded well. After about three hours the rangers suggested that if we thought the dog had been taken we should probably phone the sheriff. A report was filed and a ongoing investigation is taking place. It was 94 degrees that day, the sun was hot and it was around that time we had sent my brother to Santa Barbara to draft and print hundreds of flyers while we continued the search. My mind races still to this day with the thoughts I was having in those moments: where is Dante, is he OK, what sort of person steals a dog, is that the type of person that has him right now?
With how hot it was, his sterile track record, and the fact that no one had seen anything, my new reality started to settle in; needless to say, I was assuming the worst. It’s hard to explain how painful those hours were and how they stretched on. My brother got back to the campground around 4 p.m. and we proceeded to post the flyer on every board in the 600-campsite campground. Additionally, we spoke with all the employees and distributing them to the general store, front gate, and ranger station.
Once we were certain he was no longer in the campground, the mission became trying to figure out where he was taken. Leaving the campground with an empty dog bed in my back seat was devastating. Ever since this happened my singular purpose has been getting my boy back home. We do know that campers on that loop were from Orange County, Ventura, Simi Valley and Bakersfield. I know it is like looking for a needle in a haystack; we have a lot of support from vets, newspapers, media, dachshund rescues and neighborhood watch.
Dante is incredibly loved and well taken care of. I’ve had him since he was 6 weeks old. If you have any information, please call 1 805 341-0733.
