Canine actor comes up missing from salon

Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2006 | 7:35 a.m.

Films:

"Mustang Sally" (2004) ......... Mustang Sally's Dog

"Potheads The Movie" (2006) ..... Drug dealer's dog

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Television:

VH1

Much Music (Canada)

"Celebrities and their Pets," Animal Channel

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Music Videos

"It's Just Started to Rain" World Without Sundays

Sumo the Shih Tzu is missing. The B movie canine actor disappeared while being checked into a Las Vegas grooming salon Friday morning.

He had an appointment for a Mohawk.

Sumo belongs to Lindsey Labrum, 26, also an actor. She says that Sumo inspired her as she recovered from cancer six years ago. Since then, the two have been inseparable.

That is, until Friday morning.

The cream colored, neutered purebred disappeared while being checked into Barking Lot Dog and Cat Grooming at Tropicana Avenue and Sandhill Road. Labrum filed a report with Metro Police, and her family is offering a reward of an undisclosed amount. The police report put Sumo's value at $1,200. He makes $700 a day on the set, Labrum said.

Sumo's most recent film is the upcoming "Potheads, the Movie," in which Labrum also appears. Sumo has four pages of images dedicated to him at dailyceleb.com.

"I got Sumo when I became sick six years ago and I never go anywhere without him," said Labrum, who was diagnosed in 1999 with thyroid cancer that now is in remission.

"It is so upsetting that I let him out of my sight for just a short time to be groomed, and now he is gone. He has been with me through so much. He cheers me up. He gave me someone to care for."

The Mohawk was in preparation for Sumo's next role in the vampire film "Before Sunrise." Filming of his scenes was to begin Saturday.

Labrum's 80-year-old grandmother, Malvene Rowe, took Sumo to Barking Lot at 7:45 a.m. Friday. She also took her terrier Bugsy.

A groomer took charge of Bugsy first. Rowe said she was the only customer in the salon and that Sumo, who was not on a leash, hung around the lobby sniffing as she checked him in. She says she last saw the dog in the lobby about five minutes before she left.

Susan Nordwig, manager of the Barking Lot, said she was not present when Sumo was checked in, but she has interviewed her employees and said they had followed company check-in procedures.

Nordwig said the incident demonstrates the need to keep animals on a leash when taking them in for grooming. A sign at eye-level on the front door of her business says all animals must be on leashes.

"We have a very busy parking lot, where dogs can bolt from the store and get run over by cars," she said.

Nordwig maintains that the dog never made it into the salon's custody. Labrum and Rowe contend that the shop had responsibility for Sumo the moment a clerk took a piece of paper from Rowe that contained Labrum's grooming instructions.

Nordwig said that when one of her employees went into the lobby to get Sumo after Rowe left, the dog was not there.

"My employees searched the parking lot and the neighborhood," Nordwig said. "They called the shelters. They were in tears."

Sumo was wearing a red spike collar early Friday. Labrum said the collar was new and she cannot recall whether she had taken the ID and vaccination tags off the old collar and put them on the new one before coming to Las Vegas.

Barking Lot has been in business since 1981. The Las Vegas Better Business Bureau said the only complaint on file against the company is Labrum's.

Lindsey, who has a twin sister, Anise, and her family searched neighborhoods in the area all weekend and Monday and passed out fliers. They also checked the pound and other shelters and ran a newspaper ad.

Labrum said Sumo has health problems, including allergies and a respiration ailment that require him to take medications and eat prescription dog food. Without the medication and special food, the dog will get ill, she said.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Sumo can call 812-3948 or 433-1753.

Ed Koch can be reached at 259-4090 or at koch@lasvegassun.com.