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Dog-nappers usually target purebred puppies. Why did they want Max?

2023-10-24 00:00:00.0 华盛顿邮报-华盛顿特区原网页

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Max was wrapped in a little blue jacket on the chilly autumn night he was taken.

“He also has rain boots and a matching raincoat, of course,” Zaleena Ahmed said as she was describing some of the noteworthy pieces in Max’s wardrobe, the things that might make people remember him.

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“I understand he is a dog,” Ahmed paused to explain. “But I treat him as a boy trapped in a dog’s body.”

Her apartment building often posts photos of Max in his dapper outfits. He’s known all over town. People greet him before they greet her.

Max is a cheeky West Highland white terrier who weighs 25.2 pounds and is 18 inches long. His birthday is Oct. 31, 2009. (Ahmed knows all these details, of course. She’s a dog mom.)

He’s survived terror before. But never at gunpoint.

The last time was five years ago, when a downpour struck on a family road trip from New York to Florida for her uncle’s funeral.

“The car flipped over. My mom was ejected and the car landed on her,” Ahmed said. Ahmed was knocked unconscious, but Max’s barking woke her up. She was able to call 911 through the car’s emergency system.

When she got to the hospital, they told her that her mom didn’t make it. “And Max?” she asked. “Where’s Max?” They didn’t know anything about a dog.

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They posted his photo and information all over social media in South Carolina. Ahmed was reeling. Her uncle. Her mom. And then Max.

But the next day, someone spotted the bedraggled Westie wandering along Interstate 95. Rescuers were able to locate Max thanks to his microchip.

Since then, she had Max certified as a service dog, and he’s always with Ahmed or her sister. They all had plans to go to Cancún soon.

Max is never boarded; he’s always with family. And when Ahmed moved from New York to D.C., she picked a pet-friendly place near the Fort Totten Metro station.

“New York is pet-tolerant. But D.C. is pet-friendly,” she said, describing their trips around town, to pet night at Nationals Park, in his dapper dog stroller when his little legs can’t carry him too far.

They were out on their evening walk Saturday when Ahmed finished a phone call and put her phone away. A man wearing a mask and a hoodie approached her, she said. She wasn’t alarmed because a lot of people are wearing masks now and it was a chilly night, so a hoodie was appropriate.

But the man said something she couldn’t understand. Maybe he was asking for directions? She had a question on her face when he pulled up his sweatshirt and showed her the gun in his waistband. He grabbed Max’s leash and hit Ahmed with the gun when she wouldn’t let go.

They scuffled and he hit her again, she said. When a dark-colored van pulled up, Ahmed said, she asked the driver for help.

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“I yelled, ‘Rape!’ because I thought people would pay attention to that,” she said. “Then I told the driver that I was being robbed.” The driver was in on it.

The men stuffed Max inside, Ahmed said. She remembers trying to grab a door handle, but the car didn’t have one. She thrust out her arm to grab Max, but the van sped off.

Two women across the street saw Ahmed, whose head was gushing blood, and called police.

“We’re now going on three nights apart,” she said of Max. “We’ve never been apart this long, and I wonder how he’s managing.”

Though police don’t compile statistics, the American Kennel Club estimates that about 2 million dogs were stolen last year. They’re usually purebreds — such as Frenchies, Yorkshire terriers, cockapoos and golden retrievers — that can cost thousands of dollars.

A Yorkie was dognapped. A man who hunted al-Queda came to the rescue.

A Capitol Hill couple is still hoping that their beloved Duke — a young, 80-pound giant schnauzer who was taken at gunpoint from a dog walker when his owners were on their honeymoon — will be returned.

“It’s been three weeks now,” they said on a neighborhood group post. They’ve reached 200,000 people with their posts, brought in scent-tracking dogs, printed more than 1,000 fliers, sent 1,700 postcards, bought ads on Facebook and Instagram, run down dozens of tips, met with private detectives, made a website (bringdukehome.com), and even called the wildlife officials to ask about bear sightings, they said. At the right angle, Duke does resemble a black bear.

But why a neutered, nearly 14-year-old West Highland white terrier who has a bloodstained spot under one eye after skin tag surgery? Ahmed hopes that Max’s dognappers realize that though he is priceless to her, his street value isn’t red-hot.

Her flier lists Max’s issues, including his need for soft food (he recently had teeth removed), his strict feeding schedule (otherwise he begins to throw up), his deteriorating vision (he doesn’t like darkness) and his arthritis (he needs his supplements).

“If he’s crying,” Ahmed wrote, “just hold him close.”

“I believe people are intrinsically good,” she said. “Maybe they were in a bad situation and needed some money. Maybe the driver didn’t really want to be involved in this. He seemed a bit hesitant to me.”

She just hopes they’ll return Max.

He’s going to be 14 this month, and they had plans for a fancy dinner. The little dog found his way back to Ahmed the last time she was in a hospital, bleeding and mourning. Surely he’s got one more return in him.

If you have any information about Max, please call 646-397-1454 or email zahmed319@aol.com.

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