How sweet it is!
After six days, Sugar, the beloved French Bulldog/Basset Hound who disappeared during a romp in snow-covered Prospect Park and may have been held for ransom by a couple of canine crooks, is back at her master’s side.
In fact, Sugar’s been able to shake off the harrowing experience and is back to her sweet self, owner Drucie Belman of Park Slope told this paper Wednesday.
“When she first came home she couldn’t use her paw and couldn’t walk so we had to carry her around,” Belman said. “But we just got home a second ago and she got off her chair and ran up to us, wagging her tail.”
Sugar’s adventure began last Wednesday morning when Belman took her family for a little fun in the snow in Prospect Park.
An import from a Hong Kong shelter, Sugar never saw snow before.
When she was taken to the park, she was so surprised that she bounded off into the woods. Belman’s two boys Henry and Leo gave chase, but couldn’t find her.
The Belman’s were going to do another search through the park when everything took a horrible turn. Someone called claiming that he had the dog and wanted Belman to pay for her safe return. The caller got Belman’s number off of Sugar’s dog tag.
Belman offered $50, but that just made the would-be dognapper angry.
After a few nasty exchanges, the dognapper hung up and never called back.
Then, frightened for Sugar’s well being, Belman got the 78th Precinct involved on Thursday and filed a report about the extortion. She also asked the police to unblock the phone the dognappers were using, but cops told her it would take over a week to get a subpoena.
Days went by without Sugar or any word from the not so-sweet extortionist. During that time, Belman pelted Park Slope with fliers about the family’s beloved dog, asking for any information about her whereabouts.
Their story created a media blitz that Sugar’s dognapper apparently found too hot to handle, Belman believes.
That’s because on Tuesday morning Sugar miraculously reappeared — tied to a bush inside Prospect Park. A passing dog walker saw the Bulldog and called Belman.
After a quick check-up at the vet, Sugar was back at home.
“[Sugar] couldn’t have been in the park for six days,” Belman said. “We may never know what happened, but our belief is that someone had her and made the mean phone call thinking that they could profit off of this.”
“There was so much media attention that they got spooked and put her back in the park,” she surmised.
In the end, the only one who knows what happened is Sugar, but her big doe eyes aren’t saying anything, except how happy she is to be home.
The would-be kidnapper hasn’t called back either, although Belman says that several dog lovers have contacted her on the number she left on the fliers, ebullient that Sugar is back home.
She has also gotten a few crackpot calls as well, the best one being “A collect call from Woof Woof.”
