Puppy stolen from backyard kennel; public’s help sought

shortstop missing dog 2 — Ten-week-old ShortStop was stolen from her backyard kennel Tuesday night.

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

Rhian Herl was not expecting the silence that greeted her when she went into her Hays backyard late Tuesday night to bring her young puppy into the house.

“I got home from work about 10:30 p.m. My roommate told me she hadn’t brought ShortStop in yet, so I went out to the kennel,” Herl said Wednesday afternoon.

“I made a joke on the way out that ‘someone probably stole her as quiet as she is being’ because she loves to talk.”

It turned out not to be a joke.

shortstop missing dog 4 with Rhian — Rhian Herl and her Husky puppy ShortStop, who was stolen from her backyard kennel in Hays Tuesday night.

“The kennel was locked up as normal, but no puppy,” Herl said. “We discovered there was no hole or spot she could have escaped from and immediately called the Hays Police Department.” The Humane Society of the High Plains is also on the lookout for ShortStop, she added.

Herl and her roommate figured ShortStop, a 10-week-old white purebred female Husky, was taken from her kennel between 5 and 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 15, in their backyard, 217 W. 6th Street.

ShortStop has a dark stripe down her back and tail and blue eyes. “She responds well to her name and loves people,” Herl wrote in “Missing Puppy” posters she’s distributed around town. ShortStop is not wearing any collar or tags. “We took them off so she wouldn’t chew on them in the kennel like she does,” explained Herl.

If you have any information about the puppy’s whereabouts, call Herl at (785) 259-3840.