An Embro couple say they are devastated following a strange incident on Saturday afternoon where they believe their English bulldog was allegedly stolen by a couple in a black jeep.

Wendy Browne, 45, said that around 4 p.m. her partner Carolyn Stumps, 44, was outside on the front lawn with another person when Saxon, their four-and-half-year-old English bulldog, slipped out the front door and was “scooped up” by a couple driving through the village.

“I’m devastated,” she said on Wednesday. “I can’t eat, I can’t sleep, I can’t focus at work.

Browne said Saxon has multiple medical issues that require medications.

“I need him home,” she said.

Browne said the CKC registered bulldog, who she had planned to breed, is a purebred descended from a line of European champions.

Saxon, who had no collar on at the time, is still intact and micro-chipped.

“English bulldogs are very valuable,” she said.

Browne said her dog slipped out of the front door of their John Street home Saturday afternoon and ran towards a neighbouring cheese factory.

Browne said witnesses said the dog was “scooped up” by a couple in a new black two-door hard top jeep at corner of Embro Road and John Street.

The bystanders, standing near the cheese shop, said the couple in the jeep never even stopped to ask whose dog it was and quickly headed out of town.

“I was told they raced out of town,” she said.

OPP Const. Lisa Narancsik, who confirmed the incident had been reported to a police, said the theft of pets is not common.

“It can happen,” she said. “This dog was valuable.”

Saxon is fox red in colour, with a white bib and is extremely friendly.

Anyone with information is asked to call 519-608-0787 or 519-489-0189.

heather.rivers@sunmedia.ca