Stolen dog returned to its owner at Berkeley salon

BERKELEY, Calif. (KTVU) - A dog named Wynder has quite the story to tell.

On Wednesday afternoon, the 2-year old Yorkie-Pomeranian mix was taken from in front of the Berkeley salon where his owner works. Surveillance cameras from the 7-11 store next door captured an Asian man, holding the dog, and getting into a black car with tinted windows.

"He's an extension of me," explained Wynder's human companion, Sean Berry. "Not having him this last night; I'm just numb."

Berry and Anton Salon owners spent the day putting up missing posters, and stopping people on the sidewalk, trying to get the word out.

"He's not just my dog, he's this neighborhood's dog." Wynder would sit on an elevated dog bed outside the salon, greeting people as they walked by the business. "It was cute! He looked like a little lion to me.," said one woman. Another expressed concern. "I'm scared," she said. "I feel so horrible about that. I hope they find him."

There was a call from an AC Transit bus driver, who thought she saw the dog off-leash at 35th and Macarthur Boulevard.

Friends peppered the area with posters, hoping someone would call. Then it happened. A woman called the salon "She said my name is Linda, and I have information on your dog," Berry told KTVU. "My heart stopped." The woman said she saw Wynder's story, and knew the dog her daughter's boyfriend brought home wasn't a stray, but stolen.

Berry hugged and kissed the dog with a thick blonde mane. "This is the first time I've cried and it's out of happiness, not sadness," They were reunited at the salon Thursday afternoon, nearly 24 hours after the ordeal began. "He's not just a dog," Berry said. "He's a spirit healer, really."

Berry said he called police, but was more interested in getting Wynder back than sending someone to jail.