Entire Dog Blog

The 5 Chicago dogs who were stolen along with the Fetch and Play Dog Day Care van in which they were riding have been found safe inside the van. All five, including Chloe (above, with Anne Zellner) have been returned to their worried families.

No arrests have been made in the case as of this writing. The dogs were found when members of a construction crew recognized the stolen van.

When superintendent John Heinrich of Power Construction showed up about 7 a.m. at the building site of a University of Illinois at Chicago conference center at 1225 S. Union Ave., a co-worker asked him if he had seen the vanful of dogs outside.

Heinrich dismissed the question, but minutes later another colleague told him about the missing dogs.

"I poked my head out of the door, saw the dogs and made a call [to police]," Heinrich said "I never saw such a commotion over a few dogs."

The dogs were stolen Monday, when an employee of Dog Daycare operator Fetch & Play left the vehicle double-parked, unattended, unlocked and running while dropping off one of the dogs at home. When the employee returned to the street, the van and dogs inside were gone.

The careless employee has since been fired according to Fetch & Play owner Jose Varela, who called each of the families involved to relay the good news personally.

Some of the families involved are a little more understanding than I would be in the same situation, but Anne Zellner (the daughter of a famous Chicago attorney) says Chloe won't be returning to Fetch & Play.

"I'm a little too protective," she said. "I understand it was a mistake. I understand they feel horrible. They've always been good to Chloe. . . .If it was a child [at day care] and they lost your kid for a day, you wouldn't send them back."

Colin Hebson, who has been sending Seamus, his 11-year-old black Labrador retriever, to the day-care operation for seven years, said he still trusts it to watch over his dog.

"People make mistakes. People use poor judgment. I doubt this will ever happen again," he said.