'I Love Him More Than Myself': 71-Year-Old Homeless Man Heartbroken After His Service Dog 'Skyp Dim' Is Stolen

MIAMI (CBSMIAMI) – A 71-year-old homeless man says he's heartbroken and driven to tears after his beloved companion, a 5-year-old Chihuahua mix, was cruelly stolen from him.

For years, Pedro Carrion has been a fixture by a Burger King restaurant just north of the Palmetto Expressway on 67 Ave. He camps out there with his few belongings, and he always had his service dog, Skyp Dim, by his side.

Carrion told CBS4's Peter D'Oench that he left Skyp Dim on a leash by the Burger King as he went across the street to a McDonald's restaurant just after 7 a.m. on Tuesday. He said someone in a white SUV stole his dog and he was not able to stop him. The thief left Skyp Dim's leash behind.

Since then, Carrion has been distraught.

"My dog is my son, my family, my son, understand," said Carrion. "I love him more than myself. I love my dog so much. He is my life. I have no family, no children. My dog is my medicine. He means so much."

Carrion added, as he held back tears, "For me my dog is everything. He is everything. He is worth much more than money. I need him back. I need him back."

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Carrion is getting help from a woman named "Yami," who has known him for a longtime.

Yami said, "I have actually not been able to stop thinking about this. I have a lot of friends and they know that Pedro is my friend. I got a message from a number of friends about this. I was heartbroken. I have known him for five years. He takes better care of the dog than himself."

She said Skyp Dim is spirited.

"He is very playful and very sweet," she said. "He comes up to you and he wants you to pet him. That was his life. That was everything he had."

Yami has started her own reward fund towards the recovery of Skyp Dim.

By early Thursday afternoon, she had raised $1,100 and that is in addition to the standard reward of $1,000 offered by Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers.

To find out more about her reward, click here.

"It's enough with everything we have going on right now in this world for somebody to come in and do something like this and take the one thing in his life that he has and loves. I mean he has no family and that dog was everything to him in this world," said Yami. "It breaks my heart. I saw him crying yesterday. Can you imagine. You have nothing in this world and the one thing you have that you love is stolen from you. It is taken from you… I hope we can find his dog and I hope someone will come forward and help us."

Those sentiments were echoed by more than a dozen people who drove by the Burger King where Carrion has camped out with Skyp Dim. They each donated a few dollars to him and expressed their concerns about Skyp Dim.

Miami-Dade PD confirmed to CBS4 that they have received a report filed by Carrion about the theft of his dog. They say there are no new developments in this case.

If you can help, call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS (8477).