Purebred dogs are a prime target for thieves with an increase in stolen pedigree pooches around New Zealand.
It's a traumatic experience for their owners - many of whom never see their dog again.
Shane Oldfield is one of the lucky ones. His three-and-a-half-month-old Staffordshire bull terrier puppy Eddie was stolen from his Porirua home on Friday but, thanks to a huge social media drive, was returned home on Monday.
"I'm over the moon, obviously," Oldfield told AM on Tuesday. "I just couldn't believe the outpouring of good people helping online - it's been a rollercoaster."
Oldfield said he only took his eyes off Eddie for a split second before she was stolen.
"For the whole of Friday night, we were searching - then on Saturday morning, we got up and had more of a search. We got other search dogs in to try and get her scent and find her, but it all pointed towards, 'She's been taken.'
"We put on Facebook that we had a missing dog - and it just spiralled… and then we found some CCTV footage next door of a vehicle acting suspiciously, and that vehicle was pretty well recognisable."
Oldfield said as the story of Eddie's disappearance continued to be shared on Facebook, witnesses started to come forward.
With that information, police officers were able to recover Eddie, Oldfield told AM host Melissa Chan-Green.
For anyone worried about their dogs being stolen, people are being warned by the police not to leave pooches unsupervised, walk them on a leash and get them microchipped.
Police said people should also keep gates locked and make sure dogs sleep inside at night.
