Great Danes Going Missing Across Missouri

(KTVI-FOX2now.com)– There are growing concerns about a recent spike in missing dog cases;  one breed, in particular:  Great Danes.  Owners have reported them missing from Wentzville, DeSoto, along with the Rolla, Sullivan, and Kansas City areas in the past two weeks.

The most recent case was that of two Great Danes that disappeared near Sullivan.
Owner, Candace Berkholz, said they disappeared around 5:00 a.m. Saturday.
One was black, 1 and ½ years old, named Zoey; the other was Merle, 6 months old, named Gooch.

She said they were with a third Great Dane;  oddly, the one that returned home had no collar but the two that disappeared, did.

Three days earlier, Callie Dennis`s Great Dane, Stanley, disappeared from the family`s yard along Highway 21 on the south end of DeSoto.

It happened around the same time of day:  5:00 a.m.

Dennis said Stanley was out, as always, with the family`s other dog, Brumby [not a Great Dane].

When her father called for the dogs to come in, only Brumby came home.

‘We pretty much knew something was going on as soon as we couldn`t call him and he`d come running back.  She came running and they`re never separate,’ Callie Dennis said.  ‘She [Brumby]came running right back and you could tell she was a little shaken up by something. ‘

‘He knows the woods,’ Callie`s sister, Mary Kate, said of Stanley.  ‘He`s been since he`s been a baby.  He knows his way around the woods at this house.  There`s no way he could have just wandered off and got lost.’

Stanley was full grown but under two years old.

They organized search teams right away; combing the woods behind their house.

‘We`ve taken four-wheelers out.  We`ve had groups of 10 and 12 people walking side by side through all these fields,’ Callie said.

She added that DeSoto Police were also keeping their eyes peeled.  They`d circulated more than 200 missing posters.  There had been no reported sightings as of Monday night.

When Callie posted the information online on sites like Craigs List and Petfinders, she got surprising responses.

Berkholz e-mailed her about her missing Great Danes and the breeder who sold Stanley to Callie`s father, reported 3 more missing Great Danes near Kansas City

She said she`d learned of 10 Great Danes disappearing statewide in the past two weeks.
One, in Wentzville, was found and returned.

Callie hoped it wouldn`t be the last.

‘I haven`t spent a night away from him..he sleeps every night with me in my bed.  He`s my buddy.  I want him back,’ she said.

There was no word on motive.

Breeder Claire Nichelson said they were valuable;  Stanley was worth $1500.  She said Great Danes had been sold to research labs in the past.

The Dennis family is offering $1,000 reward for Stanley’s return, no questions asked.

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