Andrea Rosebrock 
Leslie Kull loves her little French bulldog puppy Brijitt, so much so that she paid for her…. twice! To the tune of $2700.
The whole thing started in December when Leslie bought Brijitt in a store parking lot for $300. Yes, she was suspicious of the low price but she fell in love with the tiny puppy and ignored her better instincts. Little did she know that Brigitt was stolen from Blacksher’s Ballard Pet Store when a man walked in, tucked the puppy under his coat and walked out with her.
Police were looking for the dognapper and, through a tipster, traced the puppy to Kull and her husband and recovered it. A microchip confirmed it was the one from Blacksher’s shop. No one has been arrested for that theft, and the puppy was back in the store three weeks later, still for sale.
“I bonded with her, I trained her and I had to give her up,” Kull said.
Kull spoke with Blacksher, who gave her three weeks to come up with the money to buy the puppy, longer than he normally keeps dogs. So Kull scraped together $2,400 to buy Brijitt.
“In our hearts she belonged to us,” Kull said. “It took all of our savings.”
But on May 18, Brijitt was taken from Kull for the second time. She was returning with groceries to her Lynnwood apartment when Kull says someone pulled into the parking lot, grabbed Brijitt and sped off. Kull said she chased the car but wasn’t able to get a license-plate number.
Now Kull has posted notices on the Internet and fliers, offering a reward, throughout her neighborhood. She’s also notifying local veterinarians to be on the lookout for Brijitt. She spoke with the Seattle police detective who initially recovered Brijitt after she was taken from the pet shop but hasn’t yet called police in Lynnwood, partly because she has a history of drug charges and isn’t comfortable drawing police attention.
She’s so friendly, she loves everybody,” Kull said. “What terrifies me the most is I’m afraid they will sell her to a puppy mill.”
At first, she said, she thought someone took the dog to ransom it, but she’s heard nothing since the dog was taken.
Blacksher said it’s obvious the woman loves the puppy.
“I know she did everything right,” he said. “This is a bad-luck dog. This is just mind-blowing. That poor little dog and that poor woman.”
If you live in the Seattle area, keep an eye out for this little dog. I know Leslie is just heartbroken. The dog is microchipped.
And ‘Buyer Beware’, keep in mind the old adage, it something looks too good to be true, it probably is. Dog scams are on the rise and some people think nothing of stealing a dog and selling it for some quick bucks or ransoming them back to the owner!
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