Two men in North Texas were caught on camera stealing a puppy from a yard before speeding away in a dark teal Cadillac.
Matt Ivy posted video of the incident on Monday. Two separate posts containing the same footage have already accumulated in excess of 2.5 million views across Facebook.
The first video is captioned, “Here is the video of the theft of my puppy. He is a 10 week old, red, dogue de bordeaux named Chipper.” The second video– with the same footage–bears the similar caption, “These are the thieves that stole my 10 week old Dogue de Bordeaux yesterday.”
The incident, captured by the homeowner’s surveillance camera, occurred mid-afternoon on Saturday in the Dallas suburb of Mesquite, according to the Dallas Morning News.
In the video, the two men exit the car and casually walk up to the fenced-in front yard.
One man–wearing sunglasses–moves his hand toward his face and appears to be speaking into a cellphone as he walks toward the tail end of the car. The second man–wearing a blue-green baseball cap–goes the opposite direction and stops just in front of the 10-week-old French mastiff.
The second man grabs Chipper by the scruff of his neck. The baby dog squeals and an adult dog nearby begins to bark. The two men look unperturbed as the wailing continues. Chipper is quickly scooped up–and the men jump back into their small Cadillac SUV and drive away.
Ivy is a Dallas firefighter who breeds the dogs. In comments to the local Fox affiliate, he described his lifelong love affair with French mastiffs after watching a classic Tom Hanks movie. Ivy said:
It’s my life outside the fire department. I’ve always loved dogs. Ever since I seen the movie, Turner & Hooch. They told me, ‘That’s just a mutt. You’ll never find one.’ Flipped through a dog book 15 years ago and found them. Did my research and got them. Been in love with them ever since.
According to Ivy, stolen Chipper was the last pup of the litter and is micro-chipped, which should make him easy to find–but as of yet, Chipper has not been recovered. The stolen dog is valued at $3,000.
[Image via screengrab]
