By Tracy Manzer for ContraCostaTimes.com
BELLFLOWER — Two of four show dogs in town for the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship dog show who were taken with a stolen cargo van Monday have been reunited with their owners.
The Akitas, Trace and Didi, were found along with the stolen cargo van in Compton.
Two Pembroke Welsh Corgis, Bunny and Peter, remain missing, however.
The owners of the Akitas, Kristina Rickard and David Peek, were visiting from Redding to show their dogs and their clients’ Corgis at the dog show in downtown Long Beach.
The pair had arrived at a Motel 6 in Bellflower around 11 p.m Monday and awoke around 6 a.m. Tuesday to find their cargo van was stolen.
Rickard’s father, Tom Rickard, headed for Southern California the minute his daughter called him at 6:15 a.m. Tuesday.
He arrived Tuesday night and by Wednesday morning the van had been found in Compton and a woman came forward and turned in the two Akitas, said Rickard’s mother, Lori Rickard.
“My daughter was so relieved … she was just beside herself,” Lori Rickard said, her voice quaking with emotion. “But we have to keep on until we find the Corgis.”
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Diane Hecht said the dogs were reunited with their owners Wednesday morning.