The family of a dog that went missing from their Dubai garden have put up a Dh5,000 reward for his return.
Bill, an eight-year-old black Labrador, either escaped or was stolen from the Goberts' garden in Jumeirah Village Triangle on April 7.
The beloved family pet suffers from a nervous system disorder, which causes his head to shake uncontrollably.
“He developed this kind of sickness two years ago,” said his owner, Cecile Gobert, 43, from Belgium.
“We saw him shaking his head and he couldn’t stop. It lasts for a couple of minutes and we didn’t know what to do. So we brought him to the vet and now he has to take medicine.
“It doesn’t happen often but, when it does, you have to go next to him and calm him down. If you don’t know how to calm him down, it can get worse.”
The family, who have lived in Dubai since 2004 and in JVT since 2016, are very worried for his safety, so decided to offer a Dh5,000 reward for the Labrador's return.
Ms Gobert’s two children, Leo, 11, and Noah, nine, are devastated by his disappearance.
“I looked on OpenSooq and these places where you can buy animals and a Labrador, an older dog, is around Dh2,000 or Dh3,000.
“That’s why we chose Dh5,000, because it’s much more than anyone would get for selling him.”
So far the family has had no leads on his whereabouts.
The only calls Ms Gobert has received were from dozens of people looking for jobs after someone made a short video of the advert in Hindi and shared it.
Bill went missing a little under two weeks ago, after the garage door was left open and the door linking to the garden was left unlocked.
The family looked for him for hours and contacted Dubai Municipality and vets countrywide, to no avail.
“I put his picture on the Facebook group for JVT saying there is a dog on the loose, so keep a lookout. And nobody saw him,” said Ms Gobert.
“So in the end, we thought someone must have taken him because he is so friendly. If you give him food, he will follow you.”
Anyone with any information on Bill’s whereabouts should contact Ms Gobert at cmasquelier@hotmail.com.
