BOSTON (WHDH) - A dog and its owner were reunited Monday, hours after the 10-year-old terrier was stolen in Beacon Hill just before noon.
“I’m so happy she’s home,” the dog’s owner, Maura Howley said. “She’s safe.”
Witnesses previously said someone grabbed the dog, named “Rose McNugget,” jumped into a car and took off while the animal’s dog walker was picking up another pet around noon on the corner of Walnut Street and Mount Vernon Street.
“I literally had the dog outside for less than two minutes,” Dominic Mariano, the dog walker, said.
Mariano said he tied Rose and several other dogs to a fence as he went inside a nearby home to grab the next dog.
When he got outside, he said, a construction worker told him Rose was gone.
“People just jumped out of the car, grabbed the dog amongst a group of other dogs that were waiting for me to come back to them, and they jumped and sped down the street,” Mariano said.
Police said two men sped off in a blue Honda vehicle. Mariano said the vehicle was a Civic that flew down Walnut Street and turned onto Beacon Street. They also found an air tag belonging to the dog at the corner of Beacon and Charles streets.
Up the hill, a distraught Howley asked those responsible to bring Rose home on Monday afternoon.
Howley taped signs to trees and poles in her neighborhood hoping to find her dog.
A few hours later, Howley said she received a call from a complete stranger in Mattapan who claimed he found Rose walking down the street.
“This gentleman honestly just seemed like he wanted to help,” Howley said. “He said, ‘I have the dog. I gave her some food. She’s safe.’”
Howley jumped in an Uber and took the ride to Mattapan, returning home to Beacon Hill less than an hour later with Rose in her arms.
“She’s my family,” Howley said. “She’s just absolutely perfect, and I love her.”
Howley thanked police and every members of the community who came to her aid in this situation.
As for the two men who allegedly took Rose, police said they were still investigating as of Monday evening.
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