HOUSTON – An 83-year-old man is offering a $5,000 reward after having two of his French bulldog puppies stolen during a sale gone wrong in west Harris County.
Larry Joseph Enzler said he was trying to make a few extra bucks, so he decided to breed the puppies. He said the process was long and hard.
“When they’re first born, you have to have someone to take care of them 24/7 for the first eight to 12 weeks, or they’ll starve to death. They have to be fed every two hours, 24 hours a day, which I couldn’t do,” Enzler said. “So, I hired somebody and paid them $700 a week for four weeks.”
After weeks of caring for the puppies, Enzler said he brought them home and started the process of getting them sold for $4,000 each.
He said a man reached out to him, offering to purchase the puppies, and asked if he could come over and see them.
When the man showed up, Enzler said he picked up two of the puppies and said his wife, who is wheelchair-bound, was in the car outside and wanted to see them.
Enzler said the man then went to his car, threw the puppies inside, and drove away.
“Apparently, it was something that had been planned. He got my phone number from somebody and knew that it was hard for me to walk and get around, so I would be easy to steal from,” Enzler said.
He described the thief as a man in his 30s, who drove a white or silver-colored older vehicle with paper plates.
Enzler said his only hope is that whoever stole the puppies find them a good home.
“It was very disgusting, you know, that someone would do that. You feel very molested,” Enzler said. “It’s just said that you can’t have someone come in your home and you trust them, you know.”