With a high school nearby and kids to get ready, Teri Deacon didn't think much about the young woman hanging around her Haliburton Drive block the morning of April 23 - but she noticed her.
"It was only later that I realized it might be suspicious," Deacon said.
Later that morning, Deacon and her daughters returned from a walk with their newly adopted dog, Timber. The one-year-old husky-German shepherd cross was on his bed at 9 a.m. and the family was in another area of their Saanich house when they heard the back door slam. When they checked on him around 9:30 a.m., Timber was gone.
The family notified Saanich Police and Deacon's daughter started putting up posters around the neighbourhood with pictures of the puppy they'd handpicked from the SPCA just 10 days before.
Timber was quiet and sickly when he arrived, but after days of care and a visit to the vet for fluids, he had become a loving part of the family, Deacon said.
The family got its first breakthrough when a staff member at a local pet store recognized Timber when a customer brought him in.
"The dog has some very distinctive markings," said Sgt. Steve Eassie of Saanich Police. "The storeowner was able to identify the dog and the woman who brought him in."
The description matched that of the woman Deacon had seen outside her home that morning.
According to police, the woman brought Timber into the pet shop wearing a belt as a collar. She told the storeowner the dog had been staying with a friend and needed a new collar and leash. She said the dog's name was George.
Within a few hours, investigators discovered the woman was the previous owner of the dog and had been inquiring about his whereabouts through a lawyer. Timber had been taken to the Whistler Animals Galore shelter on April 6 after having been abandoned during a police incident, Eassie said. He was taken to the Vancouver SPCA and then to the Victoria SPCA, where Deacon's family adopted him.
Saanich Police believed the woman was heading home with Timber and contacted the Squamish RCMP, who were able to locate the 30-year-old woman and Timber in Squamish by that evening, just hours after he was stolen, police said. She was arrested and Timber was returned to the SPCA.
The suspect's place of residence is unclear. Though early reports said she is from Squamish, a Squamish RCMP report stated her place of residence as Whistler. Efforts to verify that information with police were unsuccessful by The Chief's press deadline.
The suspect, whose identity has not been released, was released on a promise to appear in court. She faces charges of break and entry and possession of stolen property.
- With files from Rebecca Aldous, The Chief
