Family Offers Reward For Missing Dog

A Murrieta family is offering a $1,000 reward for the return of their dog, who has been missing since Thanksgiving weekend.

Dakota is a 4-year-old yellow Labrador who the Foley family has had since he was six weeks old. The dog stayed by their 12-year-old son's side as he recovered from losing a kidney after a December 2010 motorcycle accident, said Anita Foley.

"Dakota stayed by his side, slept in his room and just watched over him like an angel," Foley said.

The family had just moved from Oro Valley, Ariz., to Club View Drive in Murrieta so the husband could take a civilian job at Camp Pendleton and Anita at UC San Diego.

When they made a weekend trip back to Arizona for Thanksgiving, they left Dakota home because there wasn't room in the truck, she said, and took their other dog.

"I regret that decision and I can't believe I would do that to a dog," Foley said, in tears, adding that she is afraid to leave their home in the event he does come back.

She said a neighbor saw Dakota on Nov. 26, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, but that was the last reported sighting.

Foley has posted on Craig's List and has distributed hundreds of fliers throughout western Riverside County. She said she continues to check shelters in Wildomar, Riverside and San Jacinto, in hopes they can locate the dog.

Someone in Perris believed they had Dakota, and now the Foleys have taken that dog in, which is a yellow Labrador and Rhodesian Ridgeback mix.

"It is not our dog, but nobody is claiming him."

Dakota is not neutured and does not have a microchip, she said.

"The discouraging thing is that he is a pure bred and the shelter said those don't usually get turned in."

Dakota was wearing a blue collar that says Calli on it. He weighed about 75 pounds but may be thinner now, she said. Anyone with information can call 520-975-7128 or email anita6483@msn.com.