A Wyoming couple sat in anguish Sunday after their truck – and their four border collies that they had placed aboard – were stolen from a Northglenn hotel.
The two male and two female cattle dogs had all competed Friday at the National Western Stock Show, where one of their owners, Jim Chant, served as superintendent of the cattle-dog competition Friday and Saturday.
Chant and his wife, Patti, of Baggs, Wyo., had been staying at the Ramada Plaza Hotel since Wednesday and were packing up to leave Sunday morning when their 2004 gray Ford F-350 was stolen, police said.
Chant said he let Ben, Trigger, Dot and Dixie run around the parking lot about 6 a.m., then locked the dogs up and went to breakfast.
Northglenn police said the dogs were in metal dog carriers in the bed of the truck with an orange strap over the top.
Chant said he later parked the truck in front of the hotel and let it idle as he and Patti loaded it with clothes, pillows, a printer and other supplies. He said Patti’s purse was in the front seat but they had locked the truck and closed the tailgate.
He said his wife had gone up to their room to get her computer, and he was paying their bill when she “came around the corner and said, ‘Where did you go?”‘ He told her he hadn’t gone anywhere, and she said the truck was gone.
The truck and items inside can be replaced, they said. But not the dogs.
“I’ve been breeding these dogs for 30 years,” Jim Chant said. “It’s a hollow feeling.”
All four dogs competed Friday, and Ben made it to the finals Saturday.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Northglenn police at 303-450- 8893. The Chants’ cellphone number is 307-380-8130.
Staff writer Karen Rouse can be reached at 303-954-1684 or krouse@denverpost.com.
