Watch: Houston couple's dog stolen by men armed with rifle — a warning for all dog owners

KHOU11 ^ | January 28, 2021 | Matt Dougherty

[nickcarraway]

There have been at least two separate instances where the victims reported seeing the same two men attempting to steal their dogs.

Imagine you’re with your significant other walking your dog when two men in a car pull up behind you. Both of them, one armed with an AR-15, get out of the car and run toward you shouting, "Give us your dog!"

That's really happening in Houston. Multiple victims have reported two separate incidents of similar crimes.

When Joey Barnhill and his fiancee took their French bulldog for a walk last week near their east downtown home, they never would have imagined the terror they would soon face.

"They both ran at me and they were yelling, ‘Give me the dog! Give me the dog!' and we were scared, and honestly, we didn’t know what to do," Barnhill said.

Surveillance video of the attack is truly frightening.

“The guy had a huge gun pointed right at me," Barnhill said. "Then the other guy, who was a bigger guy, grabbed me and started wrestling me for the dog.”

Then the man with the rifle fired a shot.

"We started to run back to the house," Barnhill said. "In that moment, because I thought, 'These guys are running around the streets with an assault rifle, we need to get home first and foremost.'”

Once they did get home, the men circled their house several times before the police arrived.

The next day, a woman said she found the dog and got Barnhill’s number from the dog’s collar. She said she wanted a reward and arranged a meeting near NRG.

"We had a pretty good feeling that this was a setup," Barnhill said.

Barnhill said he wanted police to go with him but he never got a call back.

[HeadOn]

OOOwwwww! That was bad. So bad it was funny!

[Pining_4_TX]

Yes. It’s almost impossible to find a nice dog at a shelter now, particularly a small dog. The majority of dogs still in shelters are either pit or part pit, or they have some kind of physical or behavioral problem. Purebreed puppies go for thousands of dollars, and many breeders have waiting lists for their next litters. The spay and neuter program may have worked too well, except for pit bulls.

I can’t help but think of the world’s demographic implosion. The birth rate has plummeted everywhere except sub-Saharan Africa. It doesn’t bode well for the future.