Published: June 09, 2008 11:57 am      

Identity Crisis

Thieving little dog 'thinks she's a horse'

WELLERSBURG, Pa . - The Times-News has taken on a whole new readership group without even knowing it. In the last couple of months an unlikely thief has been stealing anything the residents of Wellersburg, specifically those on East Mineral Street, leave outside, including Times-News newspapers.

When Dick Leonard first noticed his newspaper missing, he thought nothing of it. After several consecutive days without one, he blamed the paper carrier. It wasn't until a few weeks later that Leonard saw the culprit, a 2-year-old terrier mix dog that was living in the barn across from his house. When he realized the dog was stealing the newspaper out of his mailbox, he constructed one with a closed front. The dog, a female, realized how to open that one too. He is now on his third fabricated mailbox, which tilts at an angle so she cannot get her nose in.

"She's a thief," said Leonard in a recent interview about the burglaries.

Toby, also deemed Lucky and Thief, among other names that are not so nice, has not only stolen newspapers, but also various shoes, tools, raspberry plants (still in the shopping bags), silverware, plastic sheeting, firewood, one golf shoe, buckets, and many other things, which she hides in a field across from Roger and Donna Jene Witt's house.

"She stole a pink flamingo, but we can't figure out whose it is. No one around here has them. If anyone is missing a pink flamingo, well half of one now, it's in the field," said Donna Jene.

The field is home to two horses, owned by Tom Baker of Frostburg, and Toby, who previously lived behind the Wellersburg Fire Hall until she found a permanent home with the horses.

"She plain out thinks she's a horse," said Rick Petenbrink, another neighbor and victim of the thefts.

Toby, who was named by her semi-caretaker, Helen Lynch, acts like the horses and stays with them whether they are in the field or the barn.

"She will lay between the two horses, right against their bellies," said Roger. "She will also roll on her back with her legs in the air when the horses do it."

Despite Toby's horse-like personality, she is not domesticated. She will come to Lynch when it is time to be fed, and occasionally comes when Lynch calls her, but for the most part, all that the neighbors see of her is the occasional glimpse through their yards.

Toby makes her home in the barn, where she also had two litters of puppies, which she then kept in a groundhog hole. The neighbors have found homes for all of the puppies, but Lynch wants to get her spayed.

"I would really like to get her spayed, but I can't catch her," said Lynch, who welcomes any help in capturing Toby.

Thievery runs in Toby's family and her pups have been known to steal things as well. One of the puppies is now owned by Richard T. Leonard of Meyersdale, and has stolen onions from Leonard's neighbor, Harold Crissinger's garden and a shoe from the Crissingers' porch. Lynch owns one of Toby's puppies and she says that she is a prankster as well.

Despite all of the robberies, Toby isn't all menace. She sees herself as the horses' protector and barks if she feels they are in danger. She was also a good mother to her puppies, nurturing and training them.

"One time there was a snake by the gate, and Toby was just a barking and barking," said Lynch, "She was barking at the horses to keep them away, and when I went up to feed her, which I usually do by the gate, she barked at me and ran around to the bottom, to show me that I should go down there."

Toby's most noticeable theft, which can be seen from the houses, is the looting of the neighborhood solar lights, which the residents can see glowing in the field at night.

"She takes those to read Dick's newspapers," said Donna.