Yesterday a video showing a woman clinging to the hood of the car of dognapers made news. https://www.today.com/news/video-dognappers-los-angeles-rcna136283
You can click the link to watch the video. Here is an excerpt from the article:
Police in Los Angeles were searching for a group of alleged dognappers who drove off with a French bulldog while its owner clung to the hood of the car, a spectacle captured by a bystander’s cellphone video.
The theft was reported Jan. 18 in downtown Los Angeles. Owner Ali Zacharias was having lunch about 2:30 p.m. outside a Whole Foods market when she noticed the dog had pulled his leash to wander away, she said.
“I look up and there’s a woman holding him,” she said. “She gets into a car behind her.”
Zacharias said she was a little stunned and still trying to comprehend what was happening. Her first thought was that there was some misunderstanding, and she went after the woman and explained the dog, Onyx, was hers.
“The last thing I could do is stand in front of the car,” said Zacharias, who runs a custom clothing business in downtown Los Angeles. “I was trying to put my body there. They drove into me until I fell on the hood. I grabbed onto the window wipers.”
It didn’t stop the driver.
She said there were three women, including the alleged dog thief, and one man, the driver. The vehicle sped off, she said, as she held on, splayed across the hood.
“They were swerving to throw me off,” Zacharias said.
It worked. She was thrown from the hood a few blocks away and suffered cuts and bruises, Zacharias said. Police arrived within two minutes and then took off in an attempt to chase down the vehicle but returned empty-handed, she said.
Onyx is a little more than 1 year old and has eyes that don’t match in color, making him stand out, Zacharias said. She got him from a breeder in Los Angeles called Boyle Heights Frenchies, she said.
The theft was one of a number of high-profile crimes targeting French bulldogs in Los Angeles. In 2021, two of pop star Lady Gaga’s dogs were taken in a robbery in which their walker was shot and injured in Hollywood.
This prompted me to think about Americans, especially millennials, obsession with their dogs. I am included in this dog obsessed culture. My dog is family, and I would absolutely try to throw myself on a moving car to stop him from being dognapped. After a brief google search, it wasn’t difficult to find multiple articles discussing this.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/wjkgam/why-millennials-are-so-obsessed-with-dogs
- Do we think this obsession has gotten out of hand?
- Do you consider dogs/pets just as much a part of your family as human members?
- Do we spend too much/not enough on our dogs (not regarding care but on toys, clothes, and other non-essential items)?
- Do we put too much focus/not enough focus on making sure they get quality food, which also tends to be expensive?
- Do we think these trends are more applicable to certain demographics?
