Police are looking for two young women who stole a short-haired Chihuahua puppy from a Grand Forks pet shop.
Andy Gleich, the owner of the Stonegate Pet Center in the Grand Cities Mall, said the two women weren't strangers to the store.
"They've been in like three or four times before, and they've looked at puppies," he said.
Gleich said they told him their majors at UND and their hometowns, which he can't recall. He even told one of them he might have a position at the store opening up.
On Tuesday night, Gleich took the tan-colored, eight- or nine-week-old male pup out of an enclosure in the front window and let the women hold it.
ADVERTISEMENT
"I was right here at the front desk with my back turned toward them, working on the computer," he said.
A short while later, a father and daughter walked in,
Gleich greeted them and suddenly realized the women and the $489 dog were gone.
"It's not the first time," he said. "I'd say maybe twice a year it happens."
He recalled a pair of teenage boys who came into the store: One asked to look at a puppy, and as a distraction, the other asked to fill out a job application. The pair dashed out with the dog and left in a waiting car. Sometimes during the winter,
Gleich said, people use overcoats to conceal puppies.
The women who stole the Chihuahua are both about 5-foot-4 with brown hair. One girl was heavy-set, and the other had a medium build. Gleich guesses they were 20 or 21 years old.
The police ask that anyone with information about the theft call (701) 787-8000.
