Missing West Seattle pugs found in Kent

Two pugs that went missing after a West Seattle home burglary Monday have been returned to their owners.

The dogs — a 6-year-old male named Bandit, who is blind, and a 4-year-old female named Pippin — were dropped off today at the King County Animal Control shelter in Kent. They were identified by microchips embedded under their skin.

Shelter workers told owner Barney Lubetkin that an unidentified woman had brought in the dogs, saying someone put them in her yard. She then quickly left.

Lubetkin's wife, Marsha, reported her dogs missing on Monday after she returned home from work to find a screen from an open window had been bent and tossed on the deck and her drawers and jewelry box had been emptied. The only losses were the dogs and two men's gold rings.

Police told Marsha Lubetkin the dogs might have gotten out the house during the burglary, but she thought they were stolen because the blind one couldn't have gone far, she said, and nobody in the neighborhood had seen them.

On Wednesday, police were investigating two suspects after witnesses said they saw a man pick up a pug and put it in an SUV parked near Lubetkin's home in the 3700 block of Southwest 98th Street. But on Thursday, police told Lubetkin the incident with the men occurred several days before the burglary and wasn't related to the pugs' disappearance, she said.

The shelter in Kent is more than 15 miles from Lubetkin's home, and she says nobody knows yet how the dogs got so far. She said the shelter took the anonymous woman's license plate number. If the woman is found and is indeed a good Samaritan, Lubetkin said she would provide a $1,000 reward she offered for the dogs' safe return.

After spending the week putting up fliers, notifying local blogs, searching for the dogs and fielding calls from tippers, Lubetkin said she's glad the dogs are safe.

"This is just the best news I can have," she said.

Noelene Clark: 206-464-2321 or nclark@seattletimes.com