Dog Tied Up Outside and Stolen Is Reunited With Family After City-Wide Search

A stolen dog in Chicago was reunited with his family after a heart-wrenching 24 hours apart. 

On Sunday, Chicago resident Erin Franzblau left her 5-year-old dog Charlie tied up outside a daycare in Lincoln Park, while she retrieved her children. When she returned, Charlie was gone. 

“We messed up in that I was running from a long day at work. My husband was out of town in Denver. I was alone picking up three kids: two toddlers and a baby. And, I was rushing,” Franzblau said to ABC7. “I tied him up outside the day care where there's a window, where everyone can see him.”

Franzblau and her husband, Sean, adopted Charlie during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. 

“We were on a long waitlist for him,” she said to ABC7. “[He] came in the fall of COVID, a few years after my husband and I got married, but before we had kids.”

Franzblau said Charlie usually “jumps to greet” the family once he sees them, but when they went outside he was nowhere to be found.

“I start freaking out, asking people where he is,” she recounted.

Franzblau was able to view some surveillance footage and saw a person in a dark hoodie with Charlie. 

“She was asking people, ‘Whose dog is this? Whose dog is this?,’” Franzblau told ABC7. “She did unleash the dog, and take the dog, and walk west of Racine... She was kind to him, but he was shaking.”

The family was hopeful that someone was just taking care of him and going to get give him back, but they were “incredibly uncertain,” and “on edge.”

The family offered a $5,000 reward to find Charlie, no questions asked.

Very thankfully, two anonymous individuals, saw the news coverage, then spotted Charlie in a Target. According to CBS News Chicago, they followed the dog and the alleged thief back to an apartment. They then contacted the police and Charlie’s family. 

The Franzblau family and Charlie were happily reunited. Video footage from CBS News shows Sean Franzblau happily carrying Charlie in his arms. 

“Charlie is home with us tonight because of our community. It was our friends, neighbors, the news, police, but most incredibly complete and total strangers. Hundreds, maybe thousands of total strangers that were spreading out around the internet, reaching out to us with tips,” Sean Franzblau said to CBS News. “This city just showed up for our family in way that we will never forget and that we will always remember to try and pay back.”

On top of the already good news, one of the anonymous Good Samaritans gave their share of the reward money to the other, because they felt the other needed it more. According to Tre Ward at ABC7 Chicago, the suspect was taken into custody once Charlie was secured.

Leaving one’s dog tied outside is always a big risk, no matter how short the excursion. The Franzblaus admitted to CBS News that leaving Charlie was a bad idea, even though he was within clear view of a window. But even if someone doesn’t take your dog, there are a lot of other factors at play. Dogs can slip from their leashes. They can also become anxious or reactive. They could also eat something off the ground that you don’t witness. 

Some experts warn against the practice in general. 

“There are too many unpredictable things that could happen when your dog is tied up outside a store or other type of business, and most owned dogs aren’t ‘bombproof’ or well-prepared for those types of situations,” professional dog trainer Kristen Menes told Kinship.

Others say it’s okay if you know your dog is calm and the scenario is only going to last a few minutes — or you’re able to check on your dog often.

“You should be able to see [and] check on your dog every couple of minutes to make sure they are safe, people are interacting with them appropriately … and they are behaving appropriately,” dog trainer Emily Delaplain told Kinship. 

In Charlie’s case, even though a terrible situation unfolded, thankfully it had a happy ending.