On June 15, Julie Young went to the store just like any other Monday.
She had left the sliding door open a crack for her cats to be able to come and go.
But when she returned home, her pug, Bailey, didn’t greet her as usual.
Young and her husband, Michael Green, began searching for the dog online and posting fliers around their neighbourhood.
It turns out that their dog hadn’t wandered off, as they had feared—it had been taken.
The next day, an anonymous caller told Young that the dog was being held at a Kitchener address nearby.
A hunt began as the couple followed lead after lead which turned up empty, until another phone call on Wednesday offered an exact address—but this time, for money.
Young was to meet the caller with $150 at Conestoga Mall to learn the whereabouts of their dog.
Police were contacted and apprehended the man, who gave up the information.
That evening, police, along with Ground Search and Rescue, returned the dog to its owners.
“The whole time I was pushing down my feelings, just going, I hope he’s okay, I hope he’s okay. I started getting waterworks when I did pick him up,” Young said.
She told police she did not want to press charges, only to have her dog back, out of fear of what the others involved in the dognapping might do in retaliation.
The man had outstanding warrants, however, and was arrested by police.
The couple hopes their experience can serve as a learning opportunity to other dog owners, advising them to be microchipped and fitted with GPS to protect themselves from an ordeal like theirs.
