THE German Shepherd puppy stolen from Poole Quay last month has been reunited with its owners.

On Friday, April 23, a man bent down and unclipped a German Shepherd puppy from its lead outside Tesco Express on The Quay before running off.

Owners lost hope that they would see three-month-old Bear again, however Marie Smith said she was “beside myself” when police turned up with the pooch.

“All I can say is the police turned up this morning and said, ‘do you recognise this little fella’ and it was Bear, I couldn’t believe it.

“He recognised me, he is fine, has got a bit bigger.

“It has been a total nightmare without him, now that we have got him back, we can move on.

“I thought we were not going to get him back, then I thought I saw him on the way down to the park and told police that.

“We are going to have a drink and take him with us to celebrate.

“I collapsed on the floor when I saw him. I was sitting there in my nightie in the hallway, he came up to me, running up to me, we had a cuddle.

“The police said ‘this is Bear, he has been checked over by the vets’, I can’t remember anything else, I am beside myself.”

Marie issued as plea for the safe return of bear after the puppy was stolen in April.

“At around 3.30pm I was coming out of Tesco on Poole Quay. Andy was holding Bear, who had a double clip lead on. A man came up, quickly unclipped Bear, ran over the road with him and got on a Beryl Bike and cycled away, with about 100 people in the area.

"It was despicable and we're beside ourselves. It's been very overwhelming.

“You never expect anything like this to happen to you.”

Dorset Police has been contacted for a comment.