Where’s Heide? Help a boy find his dog

Sam and Heide literally have been lifelong buddies. He was 9 months old when Heide was born, and they’ve been together ever since, just a boy and his dog. Until this week.

On Monday, Heide and her daughter, Zinger, knocked a fence board loose and got out of their backyard, said Carrie Huddleston, her owner and Sam’s mom. They found Zinger a little later at the Redeemer Lutheran Church, but Heide has just “disappeared into thin air,” said Carrie.

Sam’s Aunt Tamara got hold of me about Heide. “This isn’t just a dog, but a boy’s best friend,” she said. “Sam’s devastated.”

Sam is 13 and Heide is 12, and Carrie said Heide has slept in his room at night for years. She was the reason he learned to sleep without a night light, she added.

It’s a shame when something like this happens, but Carrie and Tamara fear there might be more than just a lost dog here. The day Heide went missing, about 12:30 p.m., two other dogs in the area disappeared. One was a bloodhound that vanished earlier in the day, and the other was a blue heeler that disappeared from a home just across the state line in Missouri.

Carrie said Heide, an AKC champion Staffordshire terrier, is a very friendly dog who’s used to getting in the car, so she would have been easy to take. She said it would be one thing if something happened to Heide, at least then they’d know what’s happened. “Not knowing is the worst,” said Carrie.

Carrie said if someone did take her, they’d be surprised to find out she’s old, spayed and has some medical problems.

It’d be a shame and a tragedy if someone stole Heide, and the other dogs. I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but there have been previous instances in the Twin Lakes Area when someone was stealing dogs. After people started taking it seriously, and there was a general description of a vehicle involved, the thefts stopped. I surely hope they aren’t starting again because there are any number of reasons why someone would steal dogs, and any number of things that could happen to stolen dogs, none of them good.

Worse, no one should steal a boy’s dog. That’s just so wrong. I know when I was growing up the dogs we had were my best friends, always ready to play or just go walking with me. They were good at listening, too, and never shared any secrets. I imagine that’s the kind of relationship Sam and Heide have.

Heide disappeared about midday Monday. She’s fawn and white pied with a fawn patch over her left eye. She was wearing a black collar with rainbow peace signs when she went missing. The last vicinity where she was thought to around Glenstone Drive behind Redeemer Lutheran Church.

Her family’s been looking for her all week, and they’re pretty heartbroken about Heide’s disappearance. If you’ve seen Heide, or may have seen someone with a dog that looks like, let Sam, Carrie and her family know.

Carrie and her sister own Petpallooza on Highway 5 North, and if you have information about Heide you can contact her there by calling 425-6500, or you can call 736-0458.