Kennel owner offers $10k reward for return of missing dog

Watch the video above: Ontario woman offers $10,000 reward for her missing dog. Cindy Pom reports. 

UPDATE: The dog has been found safe. 

TORONTO – A York region dog breeder is offering a $10,000 reward for the return of her beloved Dizzy, a miniature poodle, who she says is “like a child” to her.

“He’s the light of my life. I love him with all my heart. I go everywhere with him, he does everything with us. When we go on vacation he comes with us. He’s like my child, I would say,” dog breeder Sherry Rupke said. “I can’t even describe how much I love him.”

Dizzy went missing on Thursday. Rupke’s boyfriend called her late in the afternoon and told her that her Schomberg house had been broken into. The kitchen was “torn up” and all the cupboards “were torn apart,” she said.

Dizzy is a nine pound, black and white, one-year-old male miniature poodle.

Rupke spent the night looking for the dog, searching the bushes near her house until 4 a.m. when her hands were frost-bitten.  She’s put notice of her lost dog on Facebook, contacted various humane societies, the police and Pet Watch.

But she’s not sure if the dog was stolen in an attempt to get reward money or if the dog ran away.

“He’s never run away before, so I think somebody really scared him or they took him.”

Police said the door was forced open and left ajar, which could have let the dog escape.

York Regional Police are investigating and say break and enters happen sporadically across the region. They usually happen during the day and when no one is home, York Regional Police Constable Andy Pattenden said. Often times, only small items are taken.

“It’s not uncommon that the large TVs are left behind, these are opportunists that get in and out,” he said. “So they try and grab things that they can quickly have access to and get out of the house quickly, so that’s not entirely uncommon.”