Police Search for Missing Dogs In Stolen Doggy Day Care Van

Caption: 1) Six dogs reported missing from stolen doggy day care van; 2) Urban Out Sitters’ 2002 Chrysler Town and Country van.

The search is on for six missing dogs that were inside a doggy day care van when it was stolen on Wednesday afternoon.

Chicago police said that two armed black males between the ages of 16 to 25, stole a silver van parked in the 800 block of West Superior Street around 3:50 p.m.

The van was unoccupied, except for the six dogs that were being brought home from Urban Out Sitters, a doggy day care center and professional pet care service in River West.

The owner, James Giannini, told news media that his driver was forced out of the Chrysler Town and Country van at gunpoint by the two men.

“They ordered him out of the car, they hopped in the car and took off,” Giannini told the Chicago Tribune. “Nobody was hurt, just shaken up.”

While Giannini described the crime as a carjacking, Officer Hector Alfaro, of Police News Affairs, said the van has been reported as a stolen vehicle.

Alfaro also said that when another man at the scene tried to intervene, one of the alleged thieves drew a gun and pointed it at him.

“He disengaged and walked away, and the van fled,” Alfaro said.

It was unlikely that the thieves knew there were six dogs inside the van.

“Hopefully they can catch them before they abandon [the van] somewhere,” Alfaro said.

The dogs’ owners are grieving and heartbroken, worried about the safety of their animals.

“She was like our child,” said Heather Ballard, whose three-year-old miniature Schnauzer, Mochi, was inside the van when it was stolen. “My husband and I don’t have children. She sleeps in bed with us. It’s so surreal.”

Giannini notified Ballard and the other owners that their dogs were stolen about an hour after the van was taken.

“[Giannini] told us that that the police were notified,” Ballard said. “He said he went out searching for the van. He’s trying to get the media involved so we can find the van and our dogs.”

Ballard and her husband are terrified that the van will left somewhere and the dogs will be without heat in Wednesday’s overnight and Thursday’s subzero temperatures.

“We’re worried that Mochi won’t survive overnight in the cold,” she said.

Ballard said that Mochi is microchipped and spent five days a week at Urban Out Sitters.

In addition to Mochi, the other missing dogs’ names are Scarlet, Busy, Brad Pitt and Jayden

Most of the dogs were medium sized with some smaller dogs. They were confined in cages in the passenger seat area of the van.

The van is described as a silver, 2002 Chrysler Town and Country van, with IL license plate number R18 8669.

Anyone with information is asked to call Urban Out Sitters at 312-651-7387 and press option 9, or call 911 if you spot or hear a van full of barking dogs.