Lanasu Whitner and her service dog were joyously reunited after a harrowing separation that left the U.S. Marine veteran wondering if she would ever see her pooch again.
Wrigley, a Rhodesian Ridgeback, came to live with Lanasu Whitner and her husband, Tim, nearly three years ago, and while the dog was originally meant to be a service animal to help with persistent migraines and seizures, he soon became a part of the family, ABC News noted.
The couple were separated from the dog during a move from Illinois to Florida.
They stopped at an Indianapolis gas station and, while they were outside their SUV, three unidentified people stormed into the vehicle and drove off with Wrigley inside, People magazine said.
The vehicle was soon recovered and two of the three suspects were apprehended but Wrigley was nowhere to be found.
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department jumped in to assist, sharing information about the incident to Facebook and asking locals to look out for the missing dog.
Soon people began to call in with sightings of Wriggly but every time the couple rushed to the scene, they were disappointed.
"We were looking," Lanasu Whitner told ABC News, and "a neighbor said that they have seen him in several locations, but he was scared, so he would not go to anyone."
An officer then suggested that they try to lay down a few items of clothing with the hope that their scent would draw a skittish Wriggly out, and it worked.
The timid dog sniffed out one of the shirts laying on the ground and when he saw his family hiding out not too far away he bounded over joyously.
"It was a stressful couple of days," Tim Whitner told ABC News. His wife was just happy to have Wriggly back.
"He's my service dog. And I can't tell anybody how happy I am to have him back," she said.
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