Walnut Grove Woman's Stolen Poodle Found Safe

WALNUT GROVE (CBS13) - Marlene Schultz was devastated after spending the weekend without Berny.

Her poodle was in the cab of her husband's truck when it got stolen outside a liquor store in Walnut Grove on Saturday.

"He's just a darling," she told CBS13 on Monday. "He was my friend, my companion. He gets the paper every morning. He was just my buddy. I miss him so much. I want him home."

Marlene couldn't sleep all weekend. She talked to every farmer for miles, put up flyers and spent hours in tears.

"I just want my dog back," she said. "I feel so guilty. I know there's missing children and people are thinking it's just a dog … but he is my child."

But while our CBS13 cameras were rolling on Monday, Marlene got the good news she was waiting for. The CHP called her husband to say the truck -- and the dog -- had been found in Thornton.

Off she went to see if it was true. We followed along to an orchard.

"Is he in the truck?" Marlene asks the CHP officer after arriving in the orchard where the truck was ditched.

"He's underneath. He's been too scared to come out," the officer says.

"Oh look," she screams in excitement. "Mommy's here. Come here Berny! Oh look at you! Look at you!"

So the sad story instead turns into a sweet reunion between a grandma and her best friend.

"I'm ecstatic," she said after getting Berny back. "I'm shaking from the inside out."

Berny was in good spirits, and the truck still works.

This story was a first for the CHP officer.

"I think all the planets aligned," he said. "I'm glad she got her dog back."

Marlene already had Monday evening plans for Berny.

"Go home and watch the ballgame," she told the pooch. "The ballgame's on tonight, yes."

These two Giants fans are now back together after 48 hours of misery for Marlene.

But the first thing she planned to do was give this dog a bath.