Owner makes tearful plea for stolen puppy's return

San Francisco - A San Francisco woman spoke out Wednesday about her turmoil after her beloved French bulldog puppy was taken from her at gunpoint.

"It's really emotional for me to be standing right here where it happened," Sarah Vorhaus, 30, said near the corner of Vallejo and Eddy streets in the city's Russian Hill neighborhood.

"She's such an angel, and we just really want to get her back," Vorhaus said.

Vorhaus was walking Chloe and her Shiba Inu at about 5:45 p.m. Tuesday when she heard a voice behind her.

"I turned around, and he had a gun," Vorhaus said. "And he said, 'Give me your dog' and then he punched me twice, took Chloe."

In an instant, her constant companion, her "little monster" was gone.

"I just dropped to my knees and started screaming," Vorhaus said.

Police say the attacker was among three men who confronted her.

"The three suspects then fled from the scene by jumping into a vehicle which was driven by a fourth suspect," said Officer Robert Rueca, a San Francisco police spokesman.

Vorhaus was taken to the hospital for facial injuries from the attack.

"My eye's getting a little bit better. I couldn't open it yesterday," she said.

But her main concern is for Chloe. The pup's been part of the family since she was 10 weeks old.

"If you see any dogs that look like Chloe, if you see any sketchy posts on Craiglist, anything, just report it," she said.

Vorhaus said she wasn't aware of the risks of owning an expensive dog like a Frenchie.

"It never occurred to me. I never thought I was putting my life in danger," she said.

She says she didn't do anything wrong.

"Walking your dogs before dinner should not be a crime in your neighborhood," Vorhaus said.

Vorhaus says she's grateful that the word is getting out and that police are looking into whether someone is now trying to sell Chloe.

"Anyone who may have purchased a dog that matches the description of this French bulldog," Rueca said.

Vorhaus says she hasn't been home since the robbery.

"Emotionally, this will probably take me years to walk outside by myself," she said.

San Francisco police are asking for witnesses and anyone with surveillance video of the dognapping to come forward.