LAUDERHILL, FLA. (WSVN) - A South Florida woman and her dog are back together again after a man who was caught on camera taking the pet said he thought the animal was in danger.
7News cameras captured the sweet reunion between Lauderhill resident Raylene Thomas and Nyla, her 13-year-old poodle, Sunday.
“She’s really glad to be back home,” said the overjoyed owner, “and I’m glad to have her back home.”
Thomas thought she may never Nyla again, after the dog slipped out of the house and was taken.
But nearly a week later, she got a call.
“I was like, ‘Hello? Hello?’ He was like, ‘Hi, yes, my friend said he saw it on Facebook. You have a white dog?'” said Thomas. “I’m like, ‘Yes. You have her? You have her?’ And he’s like, ‘Yes, yes, I have her!'”
7News showed Raylene posting up “missing” fliers along busy Northwest 56th Avenue, just a block from where she lives, hoping someone would recognize Nyla and bring her back home.
Surveillance cameras recorded the man as he pulled up in a white car, got out and scooped up the poodle, July 14.
“He picked her up and got back in his car,” said Thomas.
But as it turns out, this was all a big misunderstanding.
“He thought that she was very close to the road, and I told him, ‘I can understand how he felt that she was very close to the road,'” said Thomas. “I was telling him that as he was driving out of our parking lot, I was coming around the side.”
That misunderstanding has turned into a beautiful friendship between Nyla’s owner and the man who thought he was saving a dog in danger.
“I got my dog back, and I also met a new family,” said Thomas. “They had gotten attached to her as well, so I told them, when I go out of town they’re welcome to keep her, and I’m going to bring her over to visit because they have kids.”
Thomas said she’s just grateful there are still good Samaritans in the world and that something good came of the whole situation.
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