THORNTON, Colo. (KDVR) — Police in Thornton are looking for two thieves who stole a puppy by hiding it inside clothing.
Police say the two people walked into Pet Ranch, located at 3833 E. 120th Avenue in Thornton, and walked out with a puppy priced at nearly $3,000.
Snuggles and smiles are what you can find at the pet store. Staff love what they do, but what happened around 3:40 p.m. on Feb. 6 is something they didn’t love.
“We were getting in a new set of puppies, so I went outside with the breeder to bring in a couple of puppies,” manager Elizabeth Stylianos said.
That’s when the duo, a man and a woman, entered the pet store.
“Basically, they came in, were looking around and ended up picking up another dog and asking a different employee a question about the dog,” Stylianos said. “They got him to turn his back, look away from the door.”
Stylianos shared the surveillance video with FOX31. It shows a staff member with the woman, showing different dog breeds in a catalog at the front of the store.
“This was something that they baited us. They knew how to do it. It probably wasn’t their first time doing this in a different store,” Stylianos said. “Especially knowing exactly what to do, exactly what to say, just to get us to turn our backs.”
Minutes later, you can see the man pick up the 2-month-old, female golden retriever from its pen before stuffing the puppy inside his jacket.
‘Do the right thing and return the puppy’
“It happened before with a different dog. We were able to actually get the dog back while the lady was still in the store. If we notice it, we can catch it,” Stylianos said.
The puppy was priced at nearly $3,000, but that’s not the biggest worry from staff.
“You don’t know who these people are. You don’t know where they are going. You don’t know where they live. You don’t know their living situations. Of course, you worry about what’s going to happen to the dog. Is the dog going to be neglected, taken care of properly?” Stylianos said.
This is the one message she has for the thieves.
“I hope you do the right thing and return the puppy, whether you’re taking care of it or not. The best thing is to return this dog to us. We want that at the end of the day — that’s what our end goal is. We care for these dogs and love these dogs. We treat them like our children, so of course, we don’t want to see anything happen to them,” Stylianos said.
The puppy is microchipped and has been reported stolen.
Meanwhile, police said they are investigating. Anyone who might recognize these suspects or know the puppy’s whereabouts is urged to call the Thornton Police Department at 720-913-STOP (7867).
