Dog Owner Convinced Kennel Gave Him Back Wrong Pet

It’s something every dog owner has thought about at least once in their lives – what if the kennel I left my best friend at gave me the wrong animal back? Ken Griggs of Lake Oswego, Oregon is sure it happened to him.

He left his black Labrador retriever named Callie at a local boarder just before spring break, so he could go on vacation with his family. A week later, he went back to pick her up and the people at the kennel brought up a dog that was the spitting image of the pet he left.

He took her home, and that’s when this dog owner began to have doubts about whose pooch he actually had. The subtle telltale signs were everywhere that something wasn’t right.

His cat, which used to get along fine with Callie, began hissing at the lookalike.

His old dog knew how to heel. This one didn’t.

So Griggs got back in his car and returned the dog to the kennel. The owner, Allison Best, assured the suspicious man she’d given him back the animal he’d brought in but he wasn’t convinced. Best checked with the owners of seven other black Labs who’d been at the facility and all said they had the right best friend back.

Only one raised any alarm bells. A woman who owned a dog named Dixie admitted her pet had undergone a “personality change” while she was away. She’d shared a cage with Callie, leading the Oregon man to assume there’d been a mistaken switcheroo.

But Dixie’s owner would later contend her dog had settled back into her old pattern, and she became convinced there was nothing wrong.

When Griggs went back to examine all the dogs at a meeting, one of them seemed to recognize his kids and began wagging its tail. So they took her home.

It was the same dog he’d just returned.

But he’s still convinced something is wrong. “It’s uncanny how much it looks like my dog,” Griggs marvels. “I’m sure it was happy to see us and recognized us from the day before and mistook us.”

He’s since had his vet examine the canine and she believes he’s right – it’s not the genuine article. “We know it’s not Callie,” veterinarian Andrea Frost told The Oregonian newspaper.

Her proof? X-rays showed no signs of the surgery Callie once had on one of her limbs. And the steel sutures that should have been there after she was spayed were gone. The new dog is also much thinner than the old one.

The kennel claims the matter is closed and refuses to listen to any more complaints. But Griggs isn’t giving up. He’s now hired a lawyer and plans to take legal action to sort out the mix-up.

Best remains unmoved. “Mr. Griggs kind of lost his credibility with me the second time he came into the kennel with his family and reclaimed the same dog,” she retorts. “If he can’t recognize his dog, I don’t feel I can be any help.”

Those are fighting words to the mild-mannered man, who simply wants his best friend to come home.

“It’s a sweet dog,” he notes of the replacement. “It’s tough because now we’ve had the dog for 10-plus days, and the kids, especially the younger ones, start to get attached to the dog. I like it, but I want mine.”

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