Puppy allegedly stolen from Summerland family's home

A Summerland family is hoping a public plea will lead to the return of their 6-month-old German Shepherd they believe was stolen from them late last month.

"We are a newly blended family and this is something that united us as a family of five," said Jodie Lemke, who lives with her common-law partner and three children. "It was our family dog."

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Jodie Lemke says their puppy Grace was safely locked in the backyard, but when the family returned, the dog was gone.

"Our fenced yard is a six foot high fence and the gate is latched," said Lemke. "There's no way she could have gotten out on her own."

This week, Lemke wrote a heartfelt letter to the unknown person she believes took Grace that she posted on her Facebook page. 

In the post, Lemke details how her family has been affected by the sudden loss of their puppy.  Each sentence of the letter begins with the words 'You don't know that...'

"You don't know that when she went missing we spent three days straight out looking for her. Day and night. Putting up posters and talking to locals," Lemke wrote. "You have no clue how hard we looked. How many houses we listened for barking. How many leads we followed. How hopeful we have been."

Lemke says she and her husband spent seven months saving money and researching the type of dog that would be perfect for their family.  

Lemke says the puppy's disappearance comes at an inopportune time as her son Lucas was recently diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, a degenerative disease that has no cure.

"That's been a huge life change for us and really hard to wrap our heads around."

Lemke says her husband and kids are distraught and have spent many nights crying. One of Lemke's sons even has a small stuffed German Shepherd he's named Grace.

"Even today on the ride home from picking up the kids from school they said 'I wonder what happened to Grace. Why would someone steal Grace?'"

The family is still holding out hope that Grace may be returned.

"We don't care about who took her, we don't want to press charges, said Lemke. "All we want is our dog back."

To hear the full interview with Jodie Lemke, listen to the audio labelled Missing Puppy