Dog stolen from Koreatown groomer reunited with family after tip from FOX 11 viewer

KOREATOWN, CA (FOX 11) - Pebbles the pink-eared ShihTzu has been reunited with her family five days after she was stolen from a dog grooming business in Koreatown, and it's all thanks to a tip from a FOX 11 viewer.

As FOX 11 previously reported, a man walked into Doggie Do's in the 4000 block of Olympic Blvd. on Friday, and pretended to be a relative of Pebbles' owner there to pick up the dog.

The groomer handed Pebbles over, and her owner, Laura Taylor, didn't realize what had happened until she viewed the surveillance video.

LAPD later arrested the suspect, but Pebbles wasn't with him. Taylor says he told her he gave the dog to a homeless woman.

Early Wednesday morning, FOX 11 viewer Jennifer Jones saw the report on Good Day LA, and encountered Pebbles in the custody of a homeless woman on the red line Metro in downtown LA just 20 minutes after seeing the story.

"I noticed the harness was the same exact harness from the video that you guys showed when the dog was originally taken and also how many ShihTzus are there with pink ears and a pink tail so...I immediately recognized the dog," she said. "So I thought okay that's that dog from the news so lemme start taking pictures."

Jones called us, and we called Taylor.

Taylor immediately passed out photos of the woman with Pebbles at metro stops, and Wednesday evening, a security guard near the stop at Wilshire and Western recognized the woman and Pebbles, stopped her, and Pebbles was recovered without incident.

"Relieved, just relieved, it's so good to have her back home," Taylor said. "Thank you to everyone, to the news, to the public, for the tips, it wouldn't have happened without them."

Taylor said Pebbles was cold, shaking, dirty, and thirsty, but is otherwise in good health.

"It's just unreal that you see something on the news and then you're going to work and low and behold you're involved," Jones said.