By Luke Voogt
Lara mother and dog-groomer Deb Goldsmith was ecstatic after police recovered her stolen dog wash trailer on Wednesday morning.
“I’m just so happy – I have my livelihood back,” she said.
Police received several sightings of the van through social media throughout the week and located the trailer about 6.30am.
Ms Goldsmith posted photos of the recovered trailer and thanked police for their efforts.
She was furious to discover the trailer missing at 9am Sunday when she was celebrating her daughter’s 10th birthday.
“You don’t want to know what I said,” she said.
“Expletives, lots of them.”
The unusual theft went viral after her friend posted it on social media and groomers across Australia responded with hundreds of offers of support.
Local business loaned her a trailer and gear to continue working on Tuesday, while clients offered to stop by her house.
“I cannot thank them enough,” she said.
“The grooming community is like a big family.”
Ms Goldsmith said she was overwhelmed with messages of support and people phoning to help out.
“I think my phone has gone flat four times today.”
But despite the public’s positive reaction she said the event had rattled her.
“This has just scared the absolute crap out of me, to be honest,” she said.
“I’ve actually had friends come and stay with me for the last couple of nights.”
In Ms Goldsmith’s post the thieves appeared to have scratched the lettering of the logo on the dogwash.
She was still perplexed as to why they would steal the clearly-marked trailer or how they planned to get away with it.
“I’ve got no idea why they would steal a dog wash trailer,” she said.
“Clearly they wanted to wash their dogs.”
But she had a clear message for anyone stealing property.
“I’d like them to go and get real job and earn money like I do,” she said.
Ms Goldsmith couldn’t wait to return full-time to cleaning canine clients.
“I love my job. Dogs show you so much affection,” she said.
