Brandon Harker’s beloved dog may have been sold on Craigslist (Picture: Brandon Harker/Craigslist)

A soldier was left scratching his head after he returned home from a nine-month tour of Afghanistan to find his beloved pet dog was missing and had possibly been sold on Craigslist.

The returning soldier is still looking for two-year-old Labrador retriever Oakley (Picture: Brandon Harker)

Washington-based serviceman Brandon Harker had just returned from his tour of duty when he discovered his two-year-old Labrador retriever Oakley was missing.

Mr Harker had left the animal with a friend but when he called the person to arrange a pick up time, he was told the pet was gone.

‘My friend just said they “got rid of him”,’ he told the Examiner.


‘They never gave me any other explanation. He would say, “I don’t know who we gave him to” and “I don’t know their phone number”.’



After searching for his pet online, Mr Harker was contacted by a number of people saying they had seen a sales listing for Oakley on the classified advertisements website Craiglist in February.

The serviceman contacted animal shelters and vet practices in the hope his micro-chipped dog had been found but had no luck.

Since then he has put a message on Craiglist asking anyone with information about the whereabouts of his dog to get in contact.