GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas — Riggins is back home.
The Fort Worth golden retriever, a very good boy who was stolen from a restaurant parking lot, was reunited with his owner after Grand Prairie police found him inside a running SUV on Wednesday evening.
The best part: Riggins, 4, was safe and sound.
Whoever left him inside the stolen vehicle at least left the air conditioning on, according to Riggins' owner, Makenzie Koch.
Koch posted a video of their reunion on Instagram:
On her Instagram story, Koch gave an account of how Riggins was stolen and eventually found.
Her Tahoe, with Riggins inside, was stolen Tuesday evening in Fort Worth, near TCU. After spreading the word on social media, Riggins remained missing almost 24 hours later.
Then Koch got a call around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. The person on the other end asked she if had a dog named Riggins.
Of course, she did.
"He followed this by, 'Well I'm looking right at him, and your Tahoe too,'" Koch posted on Instagram. "Needless to say I dropped to my knees."
As police explained to her, officers around 5:15 p.m. were called to a report of an unattended vehicle in a parking lot in the 2900 block of Arkansas Lane. That's near Great Southwest Parkway in Grand Prairie and a good 25 miles from where Riggins and the Tahoe were stolen.
When the officers responded, they found the Tahoe, unlocked and running, with Riggins inside.
Koch said police believe that whoever stole the Tahoe ended up leaving it in Grand Prairie that same evening, meaning Riggins was inside the unlocked SUV for nearly 24 hours.
Nothing was stolen from the car, Koch said, and Riggins appeared to be fine.
In the end, Koch thanked the person for leaving Riggins.
"I don't know what you've been through or what you're going through," Koch wrote on Instagram, "but I will forever be grateful for you and will continue to pray for you every day."
