

Chris Kitching, CP24.com





A family of German shepherds, including six puppies, that were found in a parking lot overnight have been reunited with their owners.

Initially, police believed the eight dogs were abandoned outside a grocery store, but it turns out the family escaped a fenced yard and wandered away a few blocks from home.

Police spokeswoman Const. Wendy Drummond said the mother dog, who is trained to open the backyard gate, opened the gate and her puppies and their father followed her out of the yard.

Before he picked up the dogs at Toronto Animal Services' North York facility, their owner, Nathan Pradeep, said he stopped at a hardware store to buy a new gate latch to make sure the dogs can't escape again.

Pradeep, a licensed breeder, is selling the eight-week-old puppies, and he said four of the six are already spoken for.

The dogs escaped the yard overnight and were found in a parking lot outside a grocery store at Lawrence Avenue East and Bennett Road, east of Morningside Avenue. A passerby notified police, who held the pooches until animal services officers arrived to take them away.

Other than being hungry and dehydrated, the dogs were all in good health and unharmed, police Sgt. Mark Yeandle told CP24 at the scene.

“We were fortunate to have a canine unit on scene, as well, that had some dog treats and some water,” Yeandle said.

@ChrisKitching is on Twitter. For instant breaking news, follow @CP24 on Twitter.