RIO RANCHO, N.M. (KRQE) –”No words can say how much I miss him. I have never been away from him this length of time,” says Paul Rush. He is still in disbelief that someone stole his truck with his dog inside.
Spot, a blind 18-year-old Cocker Spaniel, has been a loyal companion for more than 16 years. “A part of me is gone, you know, it’s like a child, more of like a child,” says Rush.
It happened on January 31. Rush who lives in Anthony, New Mexico was at a doctor’s appointment inside the Sandoval Regional Medical Center in Rio Rancho. After just an hour, he came outside to find his truck was not where he left it and Spot was nowhere to be found.
“There was a nurse or someone coming out, she was leaving work, and she goes, ‘are you okay?’ and I said, ‘well, I’m either crazy or,’ I said, ‘my truck’s been stolen with my dog in it.’ And she goes, ‘oh my gosh!’ So she called security right away,” Rush explains.
Rush says surveillance video showed the truck take off just 60 seconds before he came outside. Since then, Rush has been in the area searching high and low for Spot.
After posting about it on social media, he says he’s received a lot of leads, but all of those leads coming up short. “He was seen by somebody that he was trying to get on the freeway on that frontage road,” says Rush. Even worse, Rush says some of the responses have been downright dishonest.
Rush is offering a reward for the dog to be found alive, but after paying someone $100 who claimed to know where Spot was, that phone number was quickly disconnected. “I’m at the point where I don’t know what to believe,” says Rush.
While time is ticking, Rush is trying to stay hopeful that he will see Spot once again. “The truck’s gone, I know. That is what it is. But from day one, all I want is my dog,” says Rush.
Spot was last seen with a collar and name tag. He is also chipped. If anyone sees Spot or recognizes the truck, they are asked to contact the Rio Rancho Police Department or the Sandoval County Sheriff’s Office.
