SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Braden Frederick said he wanted a French bulldog when he moved to San Diego County. The Spring Valley resident told ABC 10News while doing notary work two years ago, he noticed a family’s bulldog.
At the end of his work and after chatting with the family for awhile, they asked if Frederick wanted the bulldog named Winston. He thought it was an April Fool’s joke.
“They ended up giving him to me and I just fell in love. He was my best friend. I noticed he was fast, and I was like, 'OK, let’s see what you got,'” Frederick said.
Frederick would find out quick just how fast the Frenchie was. In fact, Winston’s so fast that he broke for a world record in 2020.
“We had a lot of people kind of not believe us. So, we entered our dog sport, Fast CAT, and we broke that Frenchie record and qualified for Nationals. He’s really something special,” Frederick said.
On Tuesday afternoon, something heartbreaking happened to this special dog.
“It happened in front of the gym I work out at. I was going to the bathroom, ran in, came back out and they were gone,” Frederick said.
Frederick says Winston and his other dog Xena, a deaf Boston terrier, were inside his 2014 dark grey Toyota Camry when the car was stolen.
“I had direct vision of my car. I left the A/C on because they’re Frenchies and Boston terriers. They overheat. And at first, I couldn’t believe it,” Frederick said.
The dogs’ owner immediately called 911 and began looking for anything that could show what happened to his beloved dogs.
He shared with ABC 10News a surveillance video that he got from a nearby beauty salon of the man he says stole his car with the dogs inside.
“He decided to just get in my car with my dogs knowing full well what the consequences could be,” Frederick said.
Frederick said he’s driving around a car someone loaned to him so he could go looking for Winston and Xena, getting next to no sleep and hoping for the best.
“For a while, it was just trying to occupy where my brain was going with whatever I could whether it just a random video, not looking at pictures of them,” Frederick said.
He said the hardest part now is looking at the photos and videos on the camera roll on his phone is definitely hard to during this time.
As this man looks for answers, he asks anyone with information to come forward and for other pet owners to not put themselves in his situation.
“Please don’t leave your dogs in your car. If you see mine, please just reach police, me, news stations, anyone. I beg of you,” Frederick said.
Frederick said he has filed a police report with the San Diego Police Department about his stolen dogs and car.
If you see his dogs or his car, he says his Boston terrier has two different eye colors.
And Frederick also said his car has a sticker of a dog saying there’s a pet temperature gauge installed in the car and there are a couple holes in the back left bumper.
