Councilmember Kendra Brooks says her pup was ‘dognapped.’ She’s asking for the public’s help.

Councilmember Kendra Brooks keeps thinking about how her caramel-colored, purebred miniature poodle has been faring since Saturday in the hands of strangers she believes stole him for backyard breeding.

Five-year-old Buzz is social — perhaps to a fault — but also particular. He is fussy about the type of food he eats; Brooks will sometimes top his bowl with salmon. What’s more, he’s used to roaming around in her home and backyard.

“He wants to be cuddled and he’s not used to being caged or anything either,” said Brooks. “If they did that, I know he’s crying.”

With the dognapping trail getting colder by the day, Brooks even took to using Thursday’s City Council session to make an emotional public plea: Those in possession of her beloved family dog can drop him off at any animal shelter or hospital, no questions asked. Buzz is chipped so all his medical information is with him and any veterinarian can find Brooks’ contact. Council’s social media pages on X and Instagram also shared fliers of the missing poster asking for tips that could lead to the dog’s return.

Brooks last saw Buzz on Saturday morning before she went to work. When she returned home, he was nowhere to be found — he’s escaped twice before, she said, usually in an attempt to play with the next-door pit bull. Buzz’s previous jaunts have led to his safe return, mainly because Brooks has lived in the Nicetown section of the city for more than 40 years and neighbors have gotten to know her small pup as he traverses the neighborhood to visit Brooks’ relatives who also live there.

But this time, Buzz seems to have wandered over to a corner store on 15th and Wingohocking Streets where a man on a bike picked him up and placed him on a basket. Security cameras captured the man zipping through nearby blocks with Buzz. But the man, who told Brooks that he was asking people if they knew who the dog belonged to, also claimed that two women in a gray Nissan Altima pulled up next to him and yelled at him, claiming Buzz was theirs.

The women, he said, drove off with the dog. Brooks’ family does not have clear footage of this alleged exchange, but believe the man is no longer in possession of the dog.

For now, Brooks is doing what any other animal owner would do. She’s trying to get the word out as much as she can in her neighborhood and even going to the local news and police.

She was initially trying to stay positive, though as the week wore on, panic began to set in and various worst-case scenarios ran through her head.

“I’m really getting very unsettled. I’m concerned he’s being mistreated, he’s a part of my life,” she said.

For now, Brooks continues to mine for tips and encourage those with Buzz to turn him in.

During Thursday’s City Council meeting, Councilmember Cindy Bass, an animal lover and a board member for Animal Care and Control Team, took a moment to encourage people to save animals if they want one so desperately. She said ACCT would even waive the fees.

“But if you want a dog, you don’t have to steal someone else’s,” Bass said. “You can go get one for yourself.”

Staff writer Sean Collins Walsh contributed to this article.