Irvine dog owner offers £20,000 for return of beloved pet

A grief-stricken Irvine man insists offering a £20,000 reward for the return of his beloved dog is worth it for the chance to ‘get his life back.’

Vishal Lal admits he has suffered with alcohol issues in his life and that his Pomeranian named Bear helped him stay sober for nearly two years.

But that has all changed since Bear went missing on January 11th, with Vishal fearing his dog may have been stolen.

Such is the desperation for the return of his ‘anxiety dog,’ Vishal and partner Brian have now dipped into their savings to offer the mammoth award to anyone who can help them locate Bear.

Vishal said: “I beg from the bottom of my heart, that someone has the common decency, you can have anything you want, the reward is £20,000 now, we just need to get Bear back safely.

“He needs to come home, somebody must know something.

“I hadn’t had a drink, no alcohol, nothing, for over five hundred days, and now I am at my wits end, I am at my rock bottom.

“He was my anxiety dog, he wasn’t just a dog, he wasn’t just a family pet, I loved him, and I took him absolutely everywhere.”

Vishal thanked the Ayrshire community for their help, with appeals put out all over social media groups, help from the Ayrshire Drone Dog Rescue and hundreds of flyers and banners printed and distributed across the region.

But sadly, there has still been no news of Bear’s whereabouts, with Vishal expressing his heartbreak at the loss that has thrown his life into limbo.

“I wake up in the morning, and I think, ‘how am I going to get through the day’, Vishal added.

“’How am I going to get through the day without Bear? How am I going to get through the day without alcohol?’

“It is important that people realise, this is not just a dog, he’s a trauma dog.”

Vishal and Brian originally offered a £5,000 reward for getting Bear back to them, but felt raising it to £20,000 might produce results.

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