For three weeks, Lisa Hartouni woke up each morning hoping it would be the day she’d be reunited with Jack, the 6-year-old German shepherd who was stolen from her last month.
Hartouni, 65, was inside her home in Cambodia Town on Oct. 29 when two men walked up her driveway, opened the gate to her yard and led Jack into a white car. The act was captured on a neighbor’s security camera and the video was shared online.
Following Jack’s theft, the community rallied around Hartouni, raising $3,000 as a reward for any information leading to his return.
Meanwhile, Hartouni, from sunrise to sundown, answered phone calls each day from people around the country claiming they had seen Jack.
But as each dog failed to match Jack’s description, she began to wonder if she’d ever see her beloved dog again.
“You have to have hope that he’s going to come back,” Hartouni said. “But on the other hand, there’s also a chance he may never come back.”
Then on Monday evening, Hartouni finally received the call she had been waiting for.
A woman who lives about a block from where Jack was stolen called sometime between 5 and 6 p.m. saying she thought she had a dog who looked like him, Hartouni said.
Hartouni tried not to get her hopes up, remembering all the other false leads, but as the woman on the phone began to describe the dog’s leather collar and his silver tag, she knew it was Jack.
“Nobody had been able to say that the dog had a leather collar,” Hartouni said. “Not a lot of dogs have leather collars anymore.”
The woman offered to walk Jack over, and as he turned the corner, Jack spotted Hartouni and began pulling on his leash with excitement.
“It’s kind of unreal,” Hartouni said after being reunited with Jack. “I’m a little stunned.”
Hartouni said Jack is slowly adjusting to being back home.
No arrests have been made in the case, police said.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated to include information from the Long Beach Police Department.
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