PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, Md. (DC News Now) — A family was reunited with their dog two weeks after the pup was stolen from their porch.
“I wanted to cry. It just reminded me of seeing the video of the dog being taken and now being reunited, it made me tear up a little bit,” said Deisy Velasquez, the dog’s owner.
Five-year-old Dachshund Canela went missing in the early hours of March 6. Velasquez said her husband was on the way to work when Canela slipped out.
The family’s doorbell camera captured video of an unknown woman approaching Canela on the porch and talking to her. Canela barked at her several times, but the woman picked her up and walked off.
“We were very sad because we’ve had this dog for 5 years, then we saw the footage and just couldn’t believe that our dog was taken,” said Velasquez.
She said they don’t know the woman in the video, but they did recognize her.
“My daughter told me that the woman had asked her multiple times prior to taking the dog if the dog was theirs. My daughter told her yes,” she said.
Just one day after the dog was taken, a woman dropped Canela off at the Petco on Donnell Drive in District Heights. The manager said a woman walked into the store and told them she saw an elder woman in the parking lot looking for her dog. She found the dog and wanted to drop the dog off at the store in case the elderly woman returns.
The PETCO manager said they had Canela for nearly a week. When they saw the video released by Prince George’s County Police on March 15, they realized the woman in the video was the same woman that dropped the dog off. They immediately called police to inform them the dog was at their store.
Canela was returned to her family on Monday. Velasquez said that it was also her daughter’s birthday, so their dog’s return was the perfect present.
The family said that Canela is pregnant and expecting soon.
“We were very hopeful,” said Velasquez.
Police were still working to identify the woman in the video. They said they did not believe she acted alone and asked anyone with any information to call them.