Owner of dog dumped outside Thornberry Animal Sanctuary claims friend of a friend was 'looking after him'

The 22-year-old says she was reunited with her pet earlier today after seeing social media posts about him being tied up and left outside Thornberry Animal Sanctuary. Workers at the sanctuary issued an appeal for the owner of the dog, a Sharpei Bullmastif cross, to come forward to help with the re-homing process.

They said CCTV cameras had captured the dog, Reeco, being tied up outside and said the owner would not be judged but knowing a dog’s history helps with re-homing. But the dog’s owner has denied any wrongdoing and said she was “furious” to discover that her dog had been given up by a friend of a friend who was supposed to have been caring for him temporarily.

The woman, from Lower Manor, Sheffield, explained that Reeco had been living elsewhere since August.

“He got my other dog pregnant and when she had puppies, he turned a bit snappy on her. So, I asked my friend if she could look after him for a while,” she said.

While the woman’s friend couldn’t take in the dog, a friend of hers offered and Reeco had spent the last couple of months there.

She claims that everything has been ‘gravy’ until last night when, unexpectedly a friend showed her a photo of Reeco on Facebook and appeal from Thornberry Animal Sanctuary saying: “We are appealing to the owners of this poor lad…please contact us asap. We have you on CCTV tying him up at our site, we can and will trace you through other routes if you don’t come forward.”

After being reunited with Reeco this morning, her owner described her pet as being “really thin, skin and bones” and is shocked by his poor health.

She said: “I just wanted to clarify what’s been going on after everything I’ve seen on Facebook I honestly couldn’t believe it when I saw it last night at around 10.30pm.”

Thornberry Animal Sanctuary said: “Update – we are now in possession of a lot more information and are working with his owner, who is not the person who left him.”