To be fair, the family that now owns the dog didn't steal it. Someone else stole it and then sold it to the family. Doesn't mean op shouldn't get his dog back, but the family is innocent of any wrongdoing. They just bought a dog. But seeing as they bought this dog they should have no problem buying another dog or getting a rescue. How long have they had the dog for op? I do feel bad for them if they've had it for over a year or something. But either way he was yours first and he's apart of your family, they should understand that.

71, they never said feelings, they said opinions. I don't think your an asshole for wanting your dog back OP, pets are family.

technically the family could have charges pressed against them for receiving stolen property

Weeeell honestly they're not THAT innocent. They bought stolen property, which means not only are they legally responsible, there is also no way they bought that dog from a reputable seller. If you buy a pet from a sketchy website, classified ad or a poster for cheap, I'd immediately assume that pet was either stolen or produced in horrible conditions (like for example a puppy mill).

Actually, buying stolen property makes you guilty as week by law, at least where I live.

@75 Receiving stolen property is also a crime.

That would be a hard case. In most jurisdictions in order to be guilty, or even obtain the probable cause, you have to prove that they either knew the property was stolen, or should have reasonably known the property was/could be stolen. OP I say you shouldn't feel too bad about getting your dog back. I don't know about you but my dogs are as big a part of my family as any of the humans. The family is still able to adopt a rescue or buy a puppy for the kid.

89, a seemingly reliable rescue/seller could've lied to them or not known about it. Not as serious of a situation but my fiancee tracked a breeder she liked for almost two years, seemed reputable, fairly well-known in their breeding community, and wanted to get a dog from them to start dog showing herself. Reserved a puppy when the time was right, paid a ridiculous amount of money for him, and...then got an untrained 5 month old who had severe separation anxiety, wasn't housebroken, and had not been socialized in any way whatsoever, completely unsuited for living as a pet much less a show animal, all of which the breeder had blatantly lied about. tl;dr don't discount the possibility that someone could've seemed reputable and still royally fucked them over.

But we're not talking about a breeder who didn't bother to train a puppy here, #122, we're talking about a thief who has to be very careful about getting rid of their stolen 'wares' to avoid being caught. Unless OP unwittingly stumbled upon a professional criminal network that makes a business of stealing dogs and selling them for a high profit while keeping up the front of a legal organization, the family probably paid money to someone who tried their best to remain anonymous and meet in a neutral place so they couldn't be traced back by the police. Anyone who's responsible about getting a pet should do some reading first, and it's not hard to find out that when you're buying a dog, making a bargain is usually a terrible idea because the animals either come from puppy mills, are illegally imported, ill or (like in this case) stolen.

No it's not. It's just saying that why should OP have to suffer? Their family was stolen it isn't their fault the dog was sold off. The stranger in this situation might be innocent too but so what? If it wasn't a dog; if it was a computer then no one would care if OP claimed it back. Why is it different with this?

Even with a thief, I can think of various ways the family's dog source could've seemed reputable. I shared the breeder story because that's the most reputable-seeming source I can think of that still ended up being shady as hell. If nothing else, the thief could've simply panicked and dumped the dog, had the dog picked up by a shelter, then the family got the dog from the shelter. Shame on them if they did go to a sketchy source, but we don't know anything about that, so any judgment I have for them on it can sit in the box with Schrodinger's cat.

Exactly! Get your dog back, but help them out too. This is a tough situation for anyone to be in, so take the opportunity to help someone less fortunate. Gotta stop the crap cycle somewhere.

I did stop the crap cycle. I got my dog back. I do not intend to purchase a dog for them.

There are literally thousands of dogs who need homes in shelters. They can go and rescue one of those. I can't imagine how sucky this is for the OP.

OP should not give up his dog. The parents can get a new dog for the child.

Honestly, if the family or the police really want to blame anybody besides the criminal who stole and sold the dog, it should be the parents, not OP. I highly doubt you can buy a stolen dog though a reputable seller, so they probably got it over Craigslist or another sketchy site because it was cheaper than going through the official channels of getting a trained support dog for an autistic kid.

Kids aren't liquids

That is not happening. I have already taken the dog back, told them not to contact me again, and am done with it.

Good.

Yay. I'm so glad you got your dog back, OP!

I am too. It is an amazing feeling.

what a fucking stupid comment. no way in hell would I let someone else have my animals no matter who it is. it is ops dog and the family can get another.

So, if someone kidnapped your kid and the kid was found but the kidnappers just loved your kid sooooo soooo much, would you let them keep your kid? NO! NO YOU WOULDN'T!!!

congratulations, op!

Fuck that. I don't care what type of disability you have, if you have my dog I'm taking him back one way or another.

They seriously think that having a strong bond with an animal makes the OP a bad person? That's messed up...

What? #32

They said "pour" kid... instead of "poor kid."

Dogs in shelters are not pedigree dogs. Mom wanted a pedigree one.

If they'd chosen to get a dog from a reputable seller or a shelter in the first place they wouldn't have ended up with someone else's stolen pet. I feel sorry for the kid but I have no sympathy for the parents. OP has every right to take their dog back, and I hope they do.

Screw that. I'll feel bad for the kid and hell, you can think I'm a bad person, but my dog is my furry child and I would take it back with nothing more than a sympathetic comment. Not the kids fault but not my fault either. Some people just don't realize how much a dog can be a part of someone's family. It's not someone you can just give away because someone likes him/her.

I agree wholeheartedly with this comment. If they need a dog for their kid so badly, there are numerous adoption places that they can go to. They are the terrible people if they don't return someone else's pet, go get your dog back no matter what they think, and never ever feel one whit guilty about it.

And not just for OP. The dog would have missed OP, too.

The worst part is, they do seem to realize how a dog can be an important family member and they don't seem to care. They only care about how important it is to them, not the person who spent years getting to know it and loving it. That makes them even worse that if they were just apathetic, it makes them extremely selfish. I'm truly happy the OP had the guts to take back Riot.

@206 TBH if you had a severly autistic kid and you knew the response that would happen for removing the dog after he got attached to it then you would move hell and earth to keep the dog. Severly autistic kids have random tantrums that last for days because of a toy that got misplaced. A dog that goes missing is hell for the mother, she's gonna have a tantrum kid for weeks, correction a tantrum autistic kid. Hell. Selfish but I get trying everything to not go through that. Not saying what she did was ok, but it's understandable and something anyone of us would do if we were taking care of a severe autistic kid.

While I see you're posting a lot about this, it comes down to one simple thing. I'm sure she feels bad for the family going to have an issue, but it's not her problem. You can say how it would go with the kid but it's not her issue. Her issue is her dog, she got it back. The family may have gotten upset but that's their problem, not hers. As you said in another one, you couldn't deal with it, she doesn't have to either.