Hey all...

For those of you that don't know, my dog Cajun was stolen on September 2nd of this year.

I have a question regarding reward posters. I want to post new reward posters with an amount of $5000.00. I do not have $5000.00, but my intent would be to flush out whoever has him with a big dollar amount.

Because he has been stolen and kept from me, I fully plan to prosecute the people who have taken him. I will be getting a lawyer and sueing their pants off (or at least to whatever extent I can based on his health, treatment, vet care needs, if he has been neutered, etc.) I do not plan to pay $5000.00 to someone that stole my dog, I just want them to think I will so I can nail them.

What wording should I use? I was thinking "Reward of $5000.00 for the direct return of this dog" so that if someone just calls and tips me, but does not have him (thus not directly returning him) I am not "obligated" to dish out a reward. Though for someone to tip me off I would give them a decent reward for helping me find him.

Am I obligated to pay a reward if I put up a poster?

mmmmmm, I would call and ask an attorney if this is "legal". Not sure if you would be obligated or not. But, if someone calls and "tips" you off you could offer a small amount if the tip proves valid.....

I sure do hope you get him back. I feel for you.....

What if you wrote something like "substantial reward"? How do you know he was stolen? I have heard of people that steal pets, then try to ransom them back to the owners, a real racket. I hope you get your dog back, I'd be pretty messed up emotionally (to say nothing of pissed as hell) if someone stole my dog.

I just found your thread about it, if anyone else missed it click here:
http://www.leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/161533/page/0/fpart/1

If you have dogparks anywhere near you, be sure & post there too. If you can only make a limited number of flyers, be sure to post them at key places like vet hospitals, shelters & even local malls. I would really keep making the rounds of as many vets, boarding kennels, (even breeders because they will be on the lookout for one of their own breed anywhere they go. in as big a radius as you can manage.

Be sure to really tug at the heartstrings by saying whatever you have to "dog nees medication" or "heartbroken child needs her dog".

Jennifer, I don't know about the legal implications, you might call the cops and a lawyer as well. I know I would post what you're thinking of posting. Whoever took your dog might be planning on using him as a stud. $5000 would be their easy way to make that kind of money, versus taking care of puppies and trying to sell them.

In fact, start looking in the classified and other sources for people selling pups. You might get some clues as to where your dog is. Don't just go by his breed, the thief may not know what breed your dog is and might advertise pups from some other breed, so look carefully and continue to do so.

My only concern about the posters is that if your dog manages to get loose from those who took him and ends up being rescued in the street by someone else, then returns him, you would of course think they were the thieves and they might not be. But I would just deal with that when it happens.

Another thought - I would remove his picture from this site for now, so no one can identify him with you.

In civil law there is a term called 'unilateral declaration of will' (or something to that effect, don't know the exact translation). Basically says that if the person truly believed that you would pay the reward (based on your poster in this example), you have to pay them.

You guys have a different system (common law). I'm heading out to walk my dog, but I'll do a bit of research when I get back. I'll look into Oregon law specifically. Give me about an hour.

I would think you don't have any legal obligation to pay out a reward. You're not signing a contract, after all.

If you can, I would send another round of flyers to vet offices. "Lost Pet" notices stay up longer on the bulletin board than anything else but they do get removed after a certain amount of time.

In my experience, most clients check out the waiting room bulletin board. :wink:

I had one of my dogs stolen about 8 years ago - ( a leerburg male GS)- it was traumatizing.I didnt eat or sleep for 2 weeks and went psycho trying to drive the streets of our town to find him. And I got him back. This is what I did. The Theif came to my house , cut my chain link and used one of those things dog catchers use to snag him and pull him out. I had an idea of who was behind it. A guy in our town who actually does dog training and has a buisiness, thus, access to lots of people who own dogs or gets info from phone calls via caller id- then goes and steals their dog. He has criminals work for him and go out and actually physically steal the dogs. They were sending GS's to Texas to some place where they teach them narcotics work and some were used as sparing partners to train pits to fight. I talked to everyone I could find who had their dog stolen I could find. Many had some kind of connection to this dog trainer guy. As in , they had classes with him at one point, or they called him to discuss their dogs bloodline for breeding purposes. Anyway. the police have files of cases that are not solved or reports. Get a freind on PD to help you. I hired a PI who worked by day at the DA's office as an investigator. He was familiar with this guys criminal affiliations and could have access to stuff we cant. He then checked out backyards of the criminal element buddies of his to look for my dog. Sat up on his business , followed him to the point the guy knew he was being watched. Eventually, he flushed out the criminals- he got scared- turned my dog loose or my dog escaped , went and sat on a ladies porch - animal control took him to the shelter- where you should check all the time along with alerting and calling animal control repeatedly to be on the lookout. My dog was being trained to fight. When I got him home he sat up and would tip over - like he was afraid to sleep. Lots of anxiety and became dog aggressive with his former dog family of mine.Not telling you this to scar you- just to understand so you know how to investigate better. TALK TO EVERYONE YOU CAN AND TAKE NOTES. But when it comes time to nab someone , get a friend in law enforcement to help you or do it legally. I was so insane at that point I was ready to walk right in to very dangerous situations as some of these folks were felons for drugs and murder etc.. Beware of this too. I got a weird phone call one night that this guy was saying he had my dog or it was a GS fitting the description.He Gave me the address to come look at it. I went -but had my detective friend park outside and watch. It was a setup. The caller didnt have a GS- it was a mixed breed dog. They just wanted to see who I was!!!!!! HOw do I know this. Because they guy who owned the dog training buisness - (the theif and orchastrater of all the dog theft ring), was hiding in the back of a moving rental van parked in front of the house. I just happened to see him peep out. Call and talk to the people who have had their dogs stolen if you can. Get clues. The police arent going to have time to work a case like this when they have murders to investigate- but do try to get someone to help you- a person on the force sympathetic and involved with K-9. I was able to talk to a officer who also had her dog stolen by the guy- She had DNA testing done to prove it was her dog when she found it so she could get it back. When anything is connected to this guy he claims to the authorities.- "people just bring him dogs they find". I despise people who do this - and have helped others find there dogs.
I would do anything to bring out the people that are involved - just to get my dog in my hands or site. Now some times they stage it - where by they have a nice family- by appearance- call and have you come see the dog. They sometimes are working with the theives. Good luck

Sarah:

The fact that a contract was not signed does not mean an obligation was not established. Currently I'm working on a case where the parties agreed to buy a helicopter (for a little more than $500k) and they didn't sign a contract. Stupid? Definitely. A shake of hands is the same as a signature.

Jennifer:

From the little time I spent researching, my opinion is that yes, you would be obliged to pay that person the $5k.

There is a legal term called 'consideration', which has been the subject of many writings and profound debate. It is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as:

"Something (such as an act, a forbearance, or a return promise) bargained for and received by a promisor from a promisee; that which motivates a person to do something, esp. to engage in a legal act. • Consideration, or a substitute such as promissory estoppel, is necessary for an agreement to be enforceable."

I found an example of consideration which may apply to your case:

A has B's horse in his possession. B writes to A, "If you will promise me $500 for the horse, he is yours." A promptly replies making the requested promise. The property in the horse at once passes to A. The change in ownership is consideration for A's promise.

Another doctrine, called mutuality of obligation, is relevant. Regarding its applicability to unilateral contracts, the law states that:

The doctrine of mutuality is inapplicable to unilateral contracts. If the promisor has received a sufficient consideration, his or her promise is binding and may be aptly termed an obligation, even though the consideration is not a promise and the promisee is not obligated. Thus, if a person makes a promise conditioned upon the doing of an act by another, and the latter does the act, the contract is not void for want of mutuality, and the promisor is liable although the promisee did not at the time of the promise engage to do the act, because, after the condition is performed by the promisee, the contract has consideration, which renders the promise obligatory. In other words, even if the obligation of a unilateral contract is suspended because of a lack of mutuality at its inception, upon performance by the promisee, a consideration arises that relates back to the making of the promise, and it becomes obligatory.

In any case, if offering $5k means getting my dog back, I sure wouldn't mind getting sued.

Hope this helps.

If you say you will pay $5000 then you should stand by your word. Get a loan, or offer less money.
There was a thread recently about a lady who gave up her dream car, her only car, to get her dog back, which she did. If she had reneged on her promise people would not have been saying nice things about her. And I'll bet she wins in the long run. I would also bet that someone has given her another car by now. And do you think anybody looks up to the guy who took her car? NO.
If you want a good and honest reputation (important if you want training business or nice friends) I would advise offering a reward that you can pay, and following through with it, or going after your dog by other means.
Have you heard of reaping and sowing? You will always get what you plant (IE honesty or dishonesty), probably not the same day but in the long run you will reap what you sow.
I realise that you really want to get your dog back and it has been very painful to lose him, but if you keep your integrity intact it will be the best for you.