Sticky pawed thief returns

Roger Adamson has his store back. The books are balanced. The case of the missing dog bone is closed.

And never again will the grocery store manager doubt the enormity of two things: the World Wide Web we live in, and a dog's senses of smell, direction and good taste.

Roger had just started working as manager of the Smith's Food and Drug in west Murray this past December when lax security — those automatic doors will let anybody in — allowed a Siberian husky to enter the store, trot down Aisle 16 like he owned the place, grab a large size rawhide dog bone in his mouth, and walk back out past a number of Smith's employees, including Adamson, who thought it prudent not to interfere with anything lodged that close to a Husky's teeth.

The doggone heist took place in broad daylight.

In the old days, Adamson would have told his story and people would have thought he'd been spending a bit too much time in the wine cooler aisle.

But these aren't the old days. The grab and run — actually, it was more of a grab and saunter — was caught on the store's surveillance tape, which soon made its way to the local evening news on KSL.

From there, the tape of Salt Lake City's shoplifting dog made it to the cable news shows and finally to YouTube, where it became something of a worldwide sensation, like that Welshman singing opera.

People in dozens of languages were nudging each another, saying, "Hey, you gotta see this."

The result was an avalanche of exposure. "Holy cow, the amount of attention has just been amazing," Adamson says. "There are a lot of dog-lovers out there — a lot more than I ever gave credit."

Some people claimed the dog was theirs — and sent pictures of dogs that didn't look anything like the playful thug Adamson remembered.

Others sent in money to cover the cost of the dog bone, $2.80.

"We got checks, money orders and cash," says Adamson. "Some people sent double — just in case the dog came back and wanted another one." The money came from all over the country. Adamson donated all of it, about $40, to the Humane Society.

Oddly enough, despite being a world celebrity, neither the dog nor its owner surfaced.

But that changed this week after KSL brought its cameras back to the store to interview Adamson and do a follow-up on all the attention his store had received and the still-at-large status of the perp.