A picture of the lead that matches the collar Candy is wearing.

A young family distressed over a call from a West Auckland grandmother who refuses to return their lost chihuahua, Candy, have laid a complaint with police.

The woman made an anonymous phone call to the Lyon family this week after seeing one of their lost puppy fliers, which began circulating not long after the pup went missing on March 31.

The Avondale family, which includes Candy's five-year-old owner Ella, had also contacted local vets, the SPCA and were still trawling websites in the hopes the six-month-old pup would come home when they got the phone call on Monday.

Ella's mum Jaime Lyon explains her hopes were raised when the woman on the other end of the phone explained the puppy was happy and safe. The woman identified the dog by it's distinctive rainbow-coloured collar.

There was a pause in the conversation before the woman, who refused to identify herself, explained her grandchildren had become attached to the pint-sized dog and she wasn't sure if she would give it back.

They had even renamed the dog Pretty.

Lyon, who was gobsmacked by the woman's response, says she spent the next 15 minutes begging for her to return the dog.

"I was being more calm about it than I felt inside because she wasn't giving me her number, I had no choice but to go along with what she was saying."

Lyon explains the woman, who only revealed she was a grandmother living in Mt Albert, had a very complicated story where the dog had exchanged hands between three different people and her daughter had paid $200 for her to a friend who lived on Riversdale Rd, just a block away from the Lyons.

The grandmother, who refused to give her phone number, promised to call Jaime between 5pm-6pm that evening once she had had a chance to tell her grandchildren and let them say their goodbyes.

That time passed and Lyon has since called the police who say it is theft for the woman to knowingly keep someone else's dog.

She explains the young puppy had been booked in to get microchipped on the Friday before she went missing, but she rescheduled the appointment to Monday at the last minute.

Lyon is also kicking herself she didn't have caller identification on her phone.

Police are seeking a warrant to find out the anonymous caller's number.

Lyon says she's never been so angry in her life and that they'd bought her as a companion for daughter Ella as she was having difficulty making friends.

"She still goes outside and calls her every morning like she's going to come home and she keeps having dreams she's going to come home. I haven't let her have any wind of what's going on."

Lyon says she doesn't know if the chihuahua escaped or was taken from their property.

"We have a fully fenced yard and we've completely chihuahua proofed it.

"We were out for about two hours and our neighbours all said they heard our other dog, a Staffy, go absolutely mental around 1pm."

Lyon says she doesn't know how long it will take for the police to decide if they can get a warrant for the grandmother's phone number but in the meantime she will continue to circulate fliers around the neighbourhood in an effort to get Candy home.

"When she rang I just felt all this hope for my daughter and how happy she was going to be and then it all just got taken away again and I just thought 'how dare you do that to a little kid'."

"You can't just steal a puppy off a five-year-old girl, that's like taking candy from a baby."

If you have any information about Candy contact Auckland Now.