A family in Naramata B.C. is looking for anyone who can help reunite them with their dog Ruger, who they believe was stolen and is now being kept in Montreal.
Fiona Logie said on August 6, her family got together for a celebration while her dogs Ruger and Koda played in the backyard. The pair got out, which Logie said happens often, and went for a run in the mountains near their home in the Okanagan region of British Columbia. She said it was normal for her dogs to run off into the woods and then return down the path or make their way home.
This time Ruger and Koda never returned.
After searching for the dogs and asking a nearby camp of fruit pickers if they had seen them Logie and her family decided to check with the local dog pound.
The good news, Koda had been dropped off by someone who claimed to have found her in the woods. The bad news, Ruger was still missing.
Koda was left at the pound by a man driving a black van that was associated with a trio of transient farm workers living and working nearby.
Logie said the same three men were caught by a surveillance camera climbing a fence and attempting to steal a dog from another residence in Naramata.
Local farmers said they saw a dog that looked like Ruger with three men matching the descriptions of the ones caught on camera.
Ten days after Ruger went missing; a photo of a dog in Montreal was posted to a Facebook page for a photographer known as "The Dogist." Logie and her family were certain it was their dog.
"We found him in the woods in Pennington, B.C. five days ago. He had fleas and some other dog bit him on the arm - some guy just left him there. He was a good dog the whole way back," read the Facebook post.
After getting in contact with the photographer, he confirmed the Husky was with three men matching the same description as the suspects from out west.
Logie contacted the RCMP and opened a file. She said through various web searches and investigating with the help of local fruit pickers one of the alleged thieves was tracked down.
"They were able to get a phone number, they spoke to him on the phone and he admits to taking the dog. He says it's his dog now and he's not going to give it back" Logie said.
The Penticton RCMP contacted the Montreal police department requesting a file about the dog be opened.
"The Montreal police have a detective sergeant assigned to the file but he is not responding back to the Penticton RCMP at all" Logie said. "So they don't feel like they're getting any cooperation."
Logie said the case appears to be stuck in a legal limbo.
"[Penticton RCMP Cst. Layne Morris] told me that they could go get the dog, but I guess they don't have enough (evidence) to get a warrant to go search for the dog" she said. "It's kind of confusing because either you can get my dog or you can't."
Logie has contacted the Montreal SPCA and recently was put in touch with Verdun City Councillor Sterling Downey.
The entire ordeal has left Logie and her family beside themselves, wondering what more needs to be done to bring Ruger home after more than four months.
"I don't understand the law. Who is it out there to protect? Right now I'm feeling like it's protecting him" she said. "It's almost like he's laughing at us."