‘We Just Want the Dog Back’

Little Trooper is missing.

The 11-year-old miniature dachshund was sitting in the back of his owner’s car on Tuesday while she dashed into a store to shop for her daughter’s wedding. In the rush, Nancy Palmer left the keys in the car and when she returned the car--and Trooper--had vanished.

“We just want the dog back. We don’t care about the car,” Nancy Palmer’s husband, Bob, said.

“He’s not the kind of dog who can do a Lassie-come-home kind of thing. He’s shy, doesn’t see well at night and is too little to forage for himself.”

The Palmers fear that the people who took the car may have booted Trooper and that he may be lost. Or the thieves may have abandoned the car with the dog still sitting inside.

Well-Known by Neighbors

Trooper and the Palmers live in Palisades Park, where the dog is well-known and, his owners say, loved by everybody. He frequently accompanies Bob Palmer, a publicist and producer, to Malibu to visit friends with dogs.

The Palmers’ daughter, Tracy, is getting married this weekend.

“We’d like to have Trooper back for the wedding. We’ll be kind of depressed if he’s not there,” Bob Palmer said.

The Palmers have notified the Highway Patrol and are checking all the pounds in Los Angeles County.

The Palmers’ car, a gray 1984 two-door Subaru, disappeared from in front of a market at 12210 Santa Monica Blvd., near Bundy Avenue.

Trooper weighs about 8 pounds, is brown with touches of gray on his head and forepaws. He was wearing a red collar with studs spelling out his name and the Palmers’ phone number.

Anyone who has information on Trooper is asked to call the Palmers at (213) 454-5118.