A heartbroken mother claims her beloved springer spaniel may have been dognapped during her Amazon delivery.
Anne-Marie Millard was horrified when she realised her dog Puffin vanished last month after a delivery driver dropped off a fridge-freezer.
The 57-year-old claimed a delivery driver quizzed her partner about the temperament of their German Shepherd two weeks earlier.
The disappearance sparked a huge hunt in the kennels’ two-acre grounds and surrounding areas including drones being used – but the dog has vanished.
Amazon has now launched a probe into the allegations, and police are investigating.
Spaniel breeder Ms Millard said Puffin had ‘absolutely no reason in the world’ to run off from her kennels in Suffolk on September 22 as she’s ‘got the Life of Riley’.
Mother-of-two Anne-Marie said that even if Puffin had escaped the four-year-old would have easily found its way home to the two-acre kennels thanks to its super-keen sense of smell.
This is a trait passed down to Puffin’s litter, as it’s used for breeding pups that have been selected as trained explosive dogs and for UN search and rescue missions.
After enduring a ‘week from hell’ where even drones couldn’t track the missing pooch down, a £1,600 reward is now being offered for Puffin’s safe return.
Amazon said they were looking into the matter with their delivery partner, while Suffolk Police confirmed they had received a report of a stolen black and white dog.
Anne-Marie, from a village near Halesworth, Suffolk, said: ‘I’m absolutely shattered, we’re running out of areas to look.
‘She has absolutely no reason in the world to run off, she’s got the Life of Riley.
‘My boy Fen is always with her. He’s so devastated, he knows something’s happened.
‘I just want her back. I’d say to whoever’s got her “just bring her back, everything will be forgotten”. It’s been the week from hell.’
Puffin was seen running around the grounds of the kennels when an Amazon delivery driver dropped off a fridge-freezer at 1.45pm.
Anne-Marie said: ‘Last Sunday we had a delivery booked.
‘It was a normal day and Puffin was running around with me and Fen – she’s always in sight and has a tendency to run in circles and chase butterflies.
‘I went to the gate, said goodbye to some people and Puffin was running around. She normally follows me with Fen and I went back to the house.
‘A few minutes later Fen appeared at the glass door, my partner said “where’s Puffin?”.
‘We started walking around calling for her and got into a panic. We’re on a main road but we are very rural – we’ve got two acres and we all started going round looking.
‘Then you have that realisation that she’s not here, she’s not one to run away, we couldn’t find her.’
After spending hours checking Puffin wasn’t accidentally shut in anywhere on site, Anne-Marie pin-pointed last seeing the dog before an Amazon delivery was dropped off.
Anne-Marie said: ‘It was such a short window.
‘My two German Shepherd boys were meant to be there [at the gate where the delivery was made] and decided to bugger off down the bottom of the field to annoy someone working.
‘Puffin doesn’t run off, her puppies from last year are trained explosives dogs. Three of her puppies are about to go off to the United Nations search and rescue [team].
‘The UN actually chose her – she’s a natural scenting dog and so are her offspring.
‘Even if she got out of the gate and got frightened, she’d be back. It’s like the trail has just run cold, she’s just disappeared into thin air.’
Anne-Marie said on September 24, at 9pm someone was on the property and believes it’s related to Puffin’s disappearance.
‘We had someone in on the land setting all the security lights off,’ she said. ‘We called the police, two cars and the dog squad [came out], but by the time they got here there was no sign.
‘A couple of weeks ago we had an Amazon delivery. They parked in not their normal place, and a man and a woman got out and started walking towards our gate.
‘One of my German Shepherds started galloping up to the gate. The woman stopped and went back into the van.
‘The delivery driver started questioning my partner who was there about how he is, [asking] is he as bad as he looks? They had a bit of a strange conversation, but that was forgotten about [until now].’
Amazon has now launched an investigation into the situation but Anne-Marie, fears the firm is not taking her complaint seriously enough.
‘Amazon said they were sorry to hear this and they will investigate,’ she added. ‘That’s it, nothing else. They won’t tell me who the delivery driver was that came that day for GDPR reasons. They’re just not answering my emails.
‘I don’t think Amazon are doing enough or taking it seriously enough.’
Suffolk Police confirmed they received a report of a stolen dog black and white female Springer Spaniel and also attended the property later that week after reports of an intruder.
The reports stated the dog was allegedly stolen between 1.45pm and 2pm on September 22. No arrests have been made.
Amazon told it has been in direct contact with Anne-Marie since her concerns were raised them them.
The company added it would be working with police as part of an investigation into the incident.
‘We’re looking into this with our delivery service providers and we’re in direct contact with the customer,’ an Amazon spokesman added.