Beloved black Labs found after Irricana thief takes truck with dogs in back

The owner of two black Labrador retrievers stolen along with her truck on Sunday morning in Irricana says she’s relieved after the dogs were found.

The two dogs, Herby and EmeyLou, were kept in crates in the back of her bronze Ford F-350. The vehicle, bearing Alberta licence plate GR8LABS, was parked on the driveway of the The Pioneer Bed and Breakfast in Irricana when it was stolen about 6:30 a.m., Mounties said.

Marlene Benn said that as she was driving back home to Fort Saskatchewan on Sunday, she got word that her dogs had been found.

“Somebody let the dogs off of the truck and they were found just wandering lose around Irricana. A fellow that we know has picked up the dogs and the dogs are safe at his place, so that is the good news,” Benn said. “I don’t know anything else yet.”

Earlier in the day, Benn described the loss of the dogs as her “worst, worst nightmare,” leaving her devastated.

The two Labs are competitive field trial dogs, according to Benn, who was in the town about 65 kilometres northeast of Calgary for a competition where she was judging Saturday and was scheduled to compete Sunday.

Emey-Lou, a six-year-old female, is qualified to enter next month’s national competition in Innisfail, while Herby, a nearly 13-year-old male, is retired, according to Benn.

She said Herby is disabled and required a ramp and a sling to help get him on and off her truck.

She described her younger Labrador retriever as “an absolutely fabulous dog.”

Despite the good news about the dogs, Benn said there’s still no word on her stolen vehicle.

On Sunday morning, Benn said she started up her diesel truck to warm it up and made a few trips back and forth to the bed-andbreakfast to collect her belongings.

After loading her suitcase and phone into the truck, she went back inside to pick up her cooler, grab a cup of coffee and chat for a few minutes with another guest. When she came back outside, the truck was gone.

“Of course, it’s a small residential area,” she said. “You just say, ‘How in the world, in little Irricana, would that happen?’ ”

Benn said she rented a car on Sunday and drove home to Fort Saskatchewan.

Reached by phone close to 7 p.m., Benn said she was still en route but planned to drive back south to collect her dogs as soon as possible.

“I’m planning, if I can get into my home, which the keys to it were in the stolen truck, I’m going to turn right around and come back down to Calgary and pick them up,” she said.

In a statement issued Sunday, RCMP said officers were looking for the truck.

Benn said she was told that Mounties managed to track her iPhone, which had been in the truck, to within a two-kilometre radius near southern Airdrie and northern Calgary, but it was unclear if the thief ditched the phone.

Anyone with information is asked to call Beiseker RCMP at 403-947-3420 or their local police detachment. Anonymous tips can be delivered by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or electronically at www.tipsubmit.com.