That is a nice story. He must be super attached to the dog to offer 10K for it's return. It's the kind of thing I would do though. As a single person living alone with a dog, it does become your entire family and takes on a bigger presence than a dog really.
I bet he doesn't use that dog minder again though!
So glad the dog got a happy ending as it said it was abused before he adopted it. People who hurt helpless animals should be shot.
I once thought I'd lost my dog - he ran off after a fox and he was so fast I couldn't see where they had gone. I heard a horrible noise like the fox had attacked him and I was beside myself. I ran up and down going back to our house and nothing. I was absolutely distraught and eventually the little monster just reappeared at the same spot the chase had started with no injury or anything. I couldn't stop sobbing or shaking for the entire evening. I was so convinced he had been hurt, injured or stolen or hit by a car and I would never see him again.
After that I kept him on his lead after dark. I foolishly thought because it was lots of green and no roads I could let him off. I was a relatively new dog owner at that point and he was about 1-2 years old. He was probably only 'missing' for 5-10 minutes but dear god it felt like a lifetime and I felt so helpless.