Two dogs are back home with their family in Lawrence, Massachusetts, after being missing for seven months.
French bulldogs Malik and Potato are back in the hands of very relieved family members.
"Seeing their faces after so long, it's like you're in shock," said Ashley Martinez.
The two dogs vanished in February. Their owners say the dogs ran out of the house one day, and neighbors saw them get picked up by a stranger who took off in a black SUV.
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"They become like your son or your daughter," said Edgardo Maldonado.
Martinez and Maldonado say they searched all over the place, offered a reward, knocked on doors and responded to every tip they got.
"We went stopping people on the street that had dogs that looked just like her or him and asking them, 'Can we see your dogs?'" said Martinez.
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Now, seven months later, the French bulldogs mysteriously surfaced on a street in Salem, New Hampshire.
Police posted about them on social media, wondering who they belonged to.
"And there's my dogs," said Martinez, who couldn't believe what she was seeing. "I'm like, 'Those are them.'"
The family is grateful their dogs are back, but they want answers.
"These dogs don't last forever," said Martinez. "We only get a short period of time because their life span is so short, that you stole seven months from us."
They fear Malik was mistreated — his teeth are broken and his eye might have to be removed.
And they think Potato had babies, which may have been sold, because French bulldogs can be worth thousands of dollars.
"Because that's what people do," said Martinez. "They steal dogs, they sell the puppies. These are designer dogs, so they want them, it's a cash cow for them."
Police have not revealed many details of the investigation.
