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Heartbroken owner overjoyed as seven-week-old stolen puppies are returned

AS IRELAND is hit with a spate of dognappings, worried owners across the country have issued appeals far and wide to try and find their missing pups.

Tragically, some dogs will never be found, having been stolen and shipped off to England or further afield, and even some of the most prominent public appeals-- like Bring Molly Home-- have yet to uncover what happened to their beloved pets.

Sometimes, however, a miracle happens: the thief has a change of heart, or social media appeals make the dogs 'too hot to handle'.

Sometimes Gardaí will find and recover the dogs before they can be sold on somewhere else, as happened with ten dogs rescued in Limerick, and 32 dogs found at a property in Dublin.

Stacey Ní Giolla Chlaion, from Slane in County Meath, experienced one of these rare and joyful reunions after her two seven-week old puppies were stolen from her home earlier in the week.

On 25 August, Stacey took to Facebook with a plea for people to keep an eye out for her two Shih Tzu puppies, Buddy and Suki, who were stolen from her yard in broad daylight.

"We are devastated and our kids are heartbroken," she wrote in a public post. "PLEASE HELP US TO BRING OUR BABIES HOME."

These two babies were stolen from a secure yard in Slane yesterday morning between 10.10 and 10.20 am 24th of August,. ...

Posted by Stacey Ni Giolla Chlaion on Tuesday, 25 August 2020

The puppies, who are just 7 weeks old and still needed their mother, were missing for two days, but as their pictures soared across social media, the thieves got cold feet.

Again taking to Facebook to thank everyone who shared the original post, Stacey announced her beloved pups had been dropped into their next door neighbour's garden.

"They look perfect," she wrote. "Not hungry, dirty, nothing."

(Stacey Ní Giolla Chlaion/ Facebook)

A relative, Mary, wrote under the post saying "I could not believe it when I heard the [puppies] crying from next door. The poor little pets.

"It was like a miracle had been performed."

She went on to say that it was most likely the huge publicity the stolen pups had received, as well as the Gardaí getting involved and Stacey claiming to know the registration number of the vehicle that took them, that resulted in Buddy and Suki being returned.

(Stacey Ní Giolla Chlaion/ Facebook)

After all the excitement, fear and joyous relief, Buddy and Suki are now back home where they belong-- and Stacey provided another public post where she showed a video of the delighted dogs settling back in.