Stolen Great Danes from Cold Lake area prompt cry for help: ‘I’m scared for my dogs’

A couple in the Cold Lake, Alta. area is hoping that someone will spot their three stolen Great Danes.

Cold Lake RCMP say the three dogs – Honey Bee, Sherlock and Sheldon – were stolen from their home near the northern Alberta community on Sept. 19.

Janet Edmunds bred the dogs herself and has raised them since they were puppies. She says she has no idea what happened to her pets and says they were quite friendly.

“They wouldn’t go kicking and screaming and howling,” she said on Monday. “They are show dogs so they’re used to people touching them, walking them, moving them. It’s really quite normal for them.”

Edmunds was in Calgary when her dogs were taken, but said her husband was at home that day. He told her the three had been laying on the couch at around 3 p.m. as he went about his day, working in the garage. He left the garage door open when he went to the neighbour’s house for about an hour. At around 6 p.m., he came home to feed the dogs and wasn’t greeted by the normal bounding toward the sound of their food.

The couple live on an acreage and Edmunds describes her yard as a “safe and secure” fenced-in yard. There are trees separating her from her neighbours, so it’s unlikely someone had a clear view of what happened.

The oldest of the three dogs has been with Edmunds for almost eight years. Honey Bee had two litters that Edmunds sold, but she said none of the buyers were “bad puppy buyers” that she would think to point police toward.

“There’s no one in my life that I can say, ‘Go look at them.’ I haven’t had any problems with people and my dogs.”

Since the dogs were reported missing over a month ago, Edmunds says neighbours and people across the province have stepped up to help. Multiple posts on social media have been shared hundreds of times and Edmunds says people will hear of a tip that the dogs may have been spotted and several people will show up in the same location looking for the pets.

“You wake up every morning hoping that they’re standing in your driveway,” she said. “Every phone call you get you think someone has something so you run to the phone, or you’re constantly checking on the internet.

“It’s kind of like they vaporized and I don’t know what to do, really.”

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Edmunds is confident that whoever has her dogs isn’t walking them down the street or taking them to the dog park. She says so many people have shared the information on her pets that the three would be immediately recognized.

Right now, the couple continues to search. Someone Edmunds knows from the Great Dane community called her and offered to donate a $10,000 reward for the safe return of the dogs. Edmunds said the woman just wanted to help, but wants to remain anonymous.

“I’ve never felt this way before,” Edmunds said. “If your dog dies there’s a death so there’s some kind of ending to it. When all three go missing and you don’t know where they are… they’re your babies basically. I’m scared for my dogs.”

The three dogs are all purebreds with cropped ears. The two males, Sherlock and Sheldon, are intact while the female, Honey Bee, is spayed.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Cold Lake RCMP at 780-594-3302 or their local police detachment. Information can be submitted anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online.