A stolen van belonging to a Seattle dog trainer, which was full of 14 show dogs, was found Thursday morning in Redding, Calif. The dogs were stolen the day before from a nearby fast food parking lot.
The Record Searchlight reports the van was found locked on a dirt road in south Redding after an anonymous tip. Officers said the van was being processed for fingerprints. They said whoever stole the van broke a window, stole some possessions and the keys, and left it behind with the dogs.
There were no suspects identified as of Thursday afternoon.
Officials said the dogs were given water and were all alive. They were taken to Haven Humane Society for treatment. Police said the dogs were hungry but doing well.
Lisa Nonog's dog, Jack, was one of the dogs inside the van.
"I'm just so happy they're safe," Nonog said. "I couldn't breathe. I couldn't .... it was terrible."
Nonog said she was concerned about the dogs in California heat, as well as the possibility they might end up involved in the hands of dogfighters.
The van was stolen from an In-N-Out Burger parking lot just before 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. Tony Carter, the trainer who owns the van, said he was inside for four minutes, but the van was gone when he returned. Carter reportedly admitted he left the van running with the windows down and the air conditioning on to keep the dogs cool.
"I am assuming he's learned a pretty hard lesson," Nonog said. "In my opinion, he should have left one person in the van with the dogs when they went in to get the food."
Carter was taking the dogs to a show in Vallejo, Calif.
A reward for the dogs had reached $30,000 Thursday morning before the dogs were found.
Information from the Record Searchlight was included in this report.
