Dog stolen from San Francisco family on Christmas back home
SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) - A San Francisco family has been reunited with their beloved pet.
The family lives in Bernal Heights and says their holiday was going just fine until noon when everything changed.
Inside the Reader home, their beloved French bulldog, Lola, has her own Christmas stocking.
Moments after bringing groceries into their home on Bosworth Street on Wednesday, the family noticed Lola was missing.
"Initially we thought maybe she was hiding somewhere and then again after not seeing her for a while and then calling for her, then panicking, we then reviewed the video," said Gerald Reader, the dog's owner.
The home has several video cameras, and one of them captured a woman appearing to pilfer their pooch right from the front porch, leaving in a grey car.
"We were shocked. We never thought that something like this could happen. It's something we do hundreds of times during the year going in and out of the house with Lola following us. Never thought this could happen in our neighborhood," said Reader.
The family says it's devastated.
For 12 years, Lola has been part of their lives.
Bulldogs like Lola, they say, are expensive and can fetch upwards of $4,000.
They don't know the motive of the woman in the video, but are hopeful she'll return Lola, no questions asked.
"If you have her we will not hold it against you. We just want her back," said Reader.
Their day of celebration has been turned upside down.
They say they'll continue to make the most of their holiday, but it won't be the same without Lola.
"On Christmas, it's a harder hit to our family because here we are preparing for Christmas dinner and opening presents and she's been part of that with us for 12 years and she also has her own Christmas stocking over the fireplace and she didn't get a chance to enjoy that," said Reader.
Ultimately, Lola did get a chance to enjoy that stocking.
Within an hour of the KTVU story being on air, the family says the person who took Lola, brought her back.