Cupcake, the purloined Yorkie pup, is back with its owners.
Cathleen Jahnke and her four children were contacted by a representative of the Animal Relief Fund on Tuesday evening. A microchip, which had been implanted in the 3-month old dog when it was purchased, directed the nonprofit organization to the owners.
"We're so excited and Cupcake seems very happy," Jahnke said. "She smelled smoky when we got her, but she had a nice bubble bath and a blow dry. I know she was happy to be home. She slept with me."
The 2?-pound dog had been stolen in early February, along with most of the Jahnke family's possessions, during a brazen daylight burglary of the family's St. Paul home.
Jahnke, who moved her family to Hastings after the burglary, had delivered fliers about the stolen dog to veterinarians throughout the metro, asking them to scan any Yorkies they were treating. But she feared the pricey dog (Cupcake cost $1,700) had been taken out of state and sold.
It appears, however, that the dog never left St. Paul.
It was spotted Sunday by a person visiting a woman at a St. Paul home on Sunday. The visitor saw the woman mistreat a Yorkie.
"I was told the woman who had Cupcake threw her down the steps," Jahnke said. "The woman who was visiting said, 'Maybe you have too much going on in your life and it would help if I took the dog off your hands.' "
The woman who took the dog had seen a column about Jahnke's search for Cupcake in Sunday's Star Tribune. She contacted Animal Rescue and set up an appointment to have the dog scanned on Tuesday. And the scan confirmed that the Yorkie was Cupcake.
Meanwhile, St. Paul police continue to investigate the burglary.
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1086264.html