Attempted dognapping victims left traumatised

A woman has revealed details of the horrifying moment she was accosted by a couple intent on stealing her dog in a brazen daylight dognapping attempt.

KYLIE Weldon vividly remembers the day she almost lost her beloved pomeranian, Battery.

It was a day no different to any other. Ms Weldon was walking the eight-month-old puppy along busy Brisbane Rd on the Gold Coast, as she does every morning on her way to work, when the unthinkable happened.

A small red car pulled up beside her and a young couple jumped out and began screaming profanities as they lunged for Ms Weldon and her dog.

The man and woman, who appeared dishevelled and in their 20s, began to push Ms Weldon and scream that Battery wasn’t her dog.

“I really thought I was going to lose my baby … They were calling him a different name, saying ‘he’s our dog, we’re going to take him’,” Ms Weldon said.

Kylie Weldon with her one-year-old pomeranian, Battery. Picture: Nigel Hallett

Confused and startled, Ms Weldon grabbed Battery’s leash as tightly as she could, flinging him over her shoulder as she ran from the young couple.

As she ran distraught past Harbour Town’s Tyre Shop, employee Gary Baldwin, alongside a few others, ran to help.

“We saw a woman, distressed with her little dog so we went to help,” Mr Baldwin said.

“I’d do the same for anyone, I didn’t like to see her like that, and I don’t think I’d like to see anyone like that”.

Ms Weldon and her dog were shaken for some time from the attempted dognapping late last year, but said she has continued her daily routine of walking Battery to work with her each morning.

She said there had been lasting impacts on her dog, with the traumatic experience leaving Battery needing therapy and daily “doggie Valium”.

“After what these a — holes have done, Battery needs to be medicated … ‘anxious’ isn’t even the word, he’s a completely different dog,” she said.

Ms Weldon said she was frustrated the couple got away with it.

“It’s more than disappointing. They walk away and my dog is scarred for life,” she said.

Ms Weldon did contact police regarding the incident, but did not have a registration plate and no charges have been laid.

She said police advised her to dial Triple 0 if it ever happened again.