Chancho has been recovered and will be staying with a canine officer until his family arrives to San Diego from Utah.
SAN DIEGO — Update
Chancho, the missing Goldendoodle has been found!
All week long CBS 8 has been following the saga of a Utah family’s Goldendoodle, which was stolen from in front of their tent at Campland on the Bay.
On Thursday, CBS 8 received confirmation that Chancho has been recovered and will be staying with a canine officer. Chancho’s family is on their way to San Diego to pick him up and it’s a 12-hour drive.
Original story
After our story first aired about Chancho, a Goldendoodle puppy that was stolen from a family at Campland on the Bay while vacationing from Utah, CBS 8 acquired the security footage from San Diego Police Department showing the thief who stole Chancho.
“We believe the suspect in this case took the Goldendoodle, brought their own leash, put it on him and walked right out the front gate,” said Captain Scott Wahl of SDPD’s Northern Division. “He can be seen getting into a two-door, dark-colored sedan and leaving the area. And what we believe is that this person was there earlier in the day, saw the dog that was there, and later came back in the middle of the night to retrieve the dog.”
When CBS 8 first spoke to Chancho’s owner, Hannah McGuire, she had only seen a screen shot of the security footage, but now that CBS 8 has possession of the footage, we played the clips for her.
“Just heartbroken, I mean, knowing that that’s my dog and you know, I don’t know where he is right now,” said McGuire. “We don’t know if he’s ok and not knowing who took him and just hoping and praying that we can find him.”
To check out a viewer tip, CBS 8’s Brian White drove out to Missouri Street in Pacific Beach where a woman said she saw a dog that looked like Chancho near a camper vehicle parked on the street.
Brian met up with Skylar Holcomb, a local nanny who sent in the tip, and they located the camper.
“How could anyone just walk up and steal someone else’s dog, I mean, especially at a campground? I’m appalled that people would actually do that,” said Holcomb.
Before long, they spotted the dog Skylar had seen, but as it turned out, the dog wasn’t Chancho, but it did look similar.
“I saw the news story and I was like, ‘I don’t know if it’s the same thing, but it looks similar,’ and I’ve lost my dog and I just want to make sure someone finds their dog,” said Holcomb.
Above all, Hannah is grateful for all the responses she is receiving from people out there who care and want to help.
“Thank you so much to everyone sending in tips, to everyone looking out for my dog, Chancho,” said McGuire. “We appreciate it so much. It brings me a lot of hope and a lot of peace to know that people are out there looking for him.”
Captain Wahl said they’re investigating this case as a felony theft and they were offering a $1,000 reward for any crime stoppers tips that lead to finding Chancho.
WATCH RELATED: Utah family’s Goldendoodle puppy stolen at Campland on the Bay (August 2022)