PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (WHDH) — A New Hampshire family was reunited with their missing pet after they spotted someone else walking their dog.
“We really thought that we weren’t going to see him again,” said Natasha Curtis, whose dog was stolen.
Mickey, a Boston terrier, got out of his Portsmouth, N.H. home in January. Last week Curtis saw Mickey’s nub tail and someone else walking him less than a mile from her home.
“All the sudden we saw the butt end of a Boston terrier. It was a good 100-200 feet away. I yelled out his name and the dog quickly pulled,” Curtis said.
Curtis said Mickey went to her right away, but there was a confrontation.
“The guy — he didn’t want to give me the dog and his wife came running over saying it was her dog. I knew it was my dog from the get-go,” said Curtis.
Curtis called police. Both women claimed the dog was theirs, but Curtis knew Mickey had a microchip. Police agreed to have Mickey checked out by a vet. Investigators said that’s when Alice Giordano’s began to unravel.
“I think after she realized the process has gone pretty far and that we were going to find out that the dog — she did try to backtrack,” said Mark Newport of the Portsmouth, NH police department.
Curtis and her family have their dog back.
“We’re just giving him lots of love and playing and running around,” said Curtis.
Giordano was arrested for receiving stolen property. Police said because the dog was lost if Giordano had said upfront that she had only had the dog for a few months and had found it and tried to find its owner she may not have been charged. She is due in court in September.