Man who found Atlanta dog stolen at gunpoint says it walked up to him on a walk with his own dog

ATLANTA — Two mixed-breed bulldogs that had been missing for days after they were snatched from a dog walker have been found in a neighborhood seven miles from where they were abducted.

Channel 2′s Tom Regan reported Thursday that the dogs and their owners had been reunited. Friday, he spoke with the man who found one of them while walking his own dog in northwest Atlanta.

The saga of missing bulldogs started Sunday night when a friend was walking the dogs while their owners were on vacation. Three men with guns demanded he turn over the dogs.

One of the suspects fired twice at the dog walker, who wasn’t injured.

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“One of them turns around and tells me to stop chasing them and fires another shot at me. In my head, I was thinking ‘This isn’t really happening now,’” victim and friend Joshua Cavanaugh told Channel 2′s Tom Regan.

The dogs’ owners rushed home from London, England when they were told that their dogs had been stolen. For days, they posted flyers and searched many neighborhoods.

This week, someone walking their dog in northwest Atlanta spotted one of the stolen dogs, Stogie, standing in the street without a collar.

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The man who found Stogie, Dallas Hawkezuniga, spoke with Channel 2 Action News about how he helped reunite Stogie with his family.

“He starts following me, licking me and playing with my dog. Super friendly. So I picked him up and took him to my house and looked on Facebook. I thought there would be a group with lost dogs,” Dallas Hawkezuniga said.

Hawkezuniga contacted one of the owners of the stolen dogs, Matt Livingston. The next day, the other missing dog, Scotch was located in the same area. Both are now reunited and home with their owners.

“We have them back now, and we are so incredibly thankful and grateful for everyone who reached out. You don’t get that very often, where people are just really good and it restores your faith after something so horrible has happened,” Livingston said.

Police arrested the suspected getaway driver for an outstanding warrant after he crashed his car. The three men who stole the dogs are still on the run.

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