Animal Rescue Won't Give Our Lost Dog Back: Family

A Plymouth Township family says an animal rescue has unjustly confiscated their beagle after he got loose from their home.

Flash the beagle broke out of the Alexis and Rob Krekstein’s home on Tuesday after a contractor left an outside door partially ajar.

"One of the workmen who thought he shut the door tight didn't. So the dog was able to poke his nose in, pushed it open and go right out,” said Rob Krekstein.

When they realized Flash had taken off, The Kreksteins say they went on a search for the pup, called police and the SPCA, but couldn’t find him.

“They took my name and number and said they'd call if a beagle was brought in. And they asked me if he was chipped and I said yes. And they said, don't worry, you'll get a callback if they find your dog," Alex Krekstein said Saturday night.

But when the phone rang to let them know Flash had been found, it wasn’t police or the SPCA, rather the Main Line Animal Rescue – the same organization where the family had adopted the dog two years prior. The dog was identified through the microchip embedded under his skin.

The Kreksteins say the organization’s executive director, Bill Smith, then sent them an email letting them know that Flash would not be returned to their care because the family violated the adoption agreement. The message said the family failed to call the animal rescue and notify them the dog was missing and said they were not properly caring for him.

“It's infuriating. It's a member of my family. You treat a dog like a child,” said Rob Krekstein.

Smith tells NBC10 that Flash was not wearing an ID tag and state license and that they were not contacted first that he was missing, as required.

“I thought I was doing the smartest thing by getting the information out around here where he would be found. It never occurred to me the chip would show up Main Line Animal Rescue and they would not return the dog back to me,” Alex Krekstein said.

Rob Krekstein says the family technically broke the adoption contract, but that he doesn’t consider his dog “a contract.”

“I didn’t rent the dog. The dog lives in my home. It’s a member of my family,” Rob Krekstein said.

Smith said The Kreksteins know what they agreed to when they signed the contract.