How could somebody do this?????

[Kelli, Fenway, & Dustin Pedroia]

My brother's dog, Layla, was hit and killed by a car last night. He had left Layla in the back yard for the first time. All week he has been sitting outside with her in the backyard and even sitting with her in the dog house that he built for her so she could get comfortable and know that this was her place. She is a real people dog so he knew this would be hard for her (she usually stays inside in a crate when he is not home, but because of some schedule changes he and his girlfriend are going to be gone for longer periods of time and he didn't want her to have to stay in a crate for that long). He put her in the backyard at about seven in the evening and left for work knowing that his girlfriend would be home by eleven. This was just a test run to see how she would do. He got a hysterical call from his girlfriend at a little after eleven that Layla was not in the backyard and that she was going to go look for her. She went to the end of their street where a minivan was stopped with it's lights on and was told by the two young boys driving the van that they had just hit a dog. It was Layla. After taking her to my parents to bury her, my brother came back to inspect the back yard and see how she could have possibly gotten out. He saw where Layla had tried to dig, but she didn't succeed in digging far enough to get to the bottom of the fence. My brother was puzzled because he couldn't figure out how she had gotten out. When he inspected his gate he found that the piece of steel rebar that he had placed in front of it had been pushed down. He had placed the rebar in front of the gate and it was dug down 6 feet into the ground so that it wouldn't move and so no one could just get into his backyard very easily. The rebar was leaning like someone had pushed the gate open and then closed it back. He believes that someone (most likely a man because he doesn't think a woman or child would have been able to push the gate open with the rebar blocking it) pushed the gate open, let Layla out, and then closed it back. Why would someone do such a thing? They had to have thought that there was a possibility that something like this would happen. I just don't understand someone being so cruel. My brother talked with both of his neighbors to see if either of them had seen anything and the neighbor on one side immediately got defensive and said it must have been some of the neighborhood kids or maybe Layla had somehow gotten it open (not possible and even if she had gotten it open who closed it?). He feels like maybe Layla had been crying and the man was tired of hearing it so he just went and let her out. It just makes me sick to my stomach. My brother is just crushed. He loved Layla so much and she was so young (she'd just turned one year old). I just don't know what to say. For anyone who reads this I'm so sorry this is so long and so sad, but I'm just so upset and angry I had to get this all out.

We'll miss you Layla girl :'(

[Linda Lynch]

This is one reason why I like critters better than most people.....We are very sorry! I can't imagine their grief.

[Lorraine Bromley]

I would let the neighbourhood know that the police have been called reguarding the failed dog napping incident or theft under 5000$ Whatever the local law deems worse. Post a reward flyer for imformation leading to the identity of the attempted dog napper. Talk to the boys who hit the dog and find out who or what they saw before hitting the dog, Maybe they saw your neighbour? Hopefully if nothing else this will shame this man to realize he put his needs ahead of a life! Sadly it may take putting a value of cost to what you have lost in terms of what you paid for the dog and how much was invested to take this man to task in a court of law or have the police take this seriously as apposed to a grieving pet owner. Hopefully to avoid going to court you could put the word out in the neighbourhood that you are looking for compensation of cost and an apology instead of suing the person. Hopefully he will come forward instead of gambling he may end up in a lawsuit. That way you would have closure that it was in fact the neighbour and not a random unknown person that invaded your lives.
You could lead people to believe you are following through with this and hope for action or you could actually call the police and start a real investigation. Maybe fingerprints will be able to be used?
I have had two pets stolen from our family, if I could only have closure by knowing if they were dead or alive that would be enough. But to be able to punish and stop someone from doing this to anyone else would be well worth the pain it would put me through.
Good luck with what ever you choose to do. But most of all I feel for you as I know what you must be going through. Let your brother know there are people who care and know how much our furry kids mean to us.

[Stacy Cook]

OMG how aweful, so sad for your brother. People are horrible and do not think sometimes. I hope they cannot live with themselves after hearing what happened to her and if they did let her out.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I am very sorry to hear about Layla. I could never leave my dogs outside when I'm not home because I would constantly worry about them. I feel fortunate to never have to do this and realize it's a luxury not everyone has. There are no easy solutions, unfortunately.Some people do not think of the consequences of their actions and we can hope, not that it changes anything, that the person who let Layla out was just stupid not malicious.

[Kelli, Fenway, & Dustin Pedroia]

Thank you all for your kind words and thoughts. It's been really hard. So much harder than it ever has been to lose a pet and it wasn't even my pet. I just can't quit thinking about it I think because there was really nothing my brother could have done to prevent it other than not putting her outside. My Mom says we just need to remember how much fun she always had and how happy she was. Just last week we were all at the beach (my parents, my brother and his girlfriend, my husband and myself as well as all of our dogs) and they all had such a fabulous time. She loved diving into the ocean to retrieve her balls and riding in the boat in the creeks. She truly was a happy and joyful dog. We'll miss her so much, but it has truly helped to write this all down and get it out of my system. Thank you all again.

[Penny, Comiskey & Beemer]

So sorry for you loss...and yes, people can be that cruel....

[Leslie and Halas]

I'm so sorry.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

This is so sad - I am sorry for your brother's loss.

[Carol and Banjo]

I'm so sorry for your poor brother and his girlfriend. It sounds like he really tried to do the right thing for Layla. Very sad.

[Rose]

How terribly sad. I'm so sorry for all of you.