'I just want my puppy back': Popular dog reported stolen

Owner asks for help finding stolen dog From CTV Kitchener's Marc Venema: A dog with a large online following was stolen from a Kitchener home while its owner was out.

A dog whose exploits have entertained thousands of people has been stolen from his owner.

George Wang bought Tank about 10 weeks ago, when he was a seven-week-old puppy.

“I fell in love right away. I said ‘Hey, I’ll raise this little guy,’” Wang says.

Since then, Wang and Tank’s travels around their neighbourhood have resulted in a massive social media following, with Tank racking up nearly 20,000 followers on Instagram.

Last week, Tank was stolen from Wang’s parents’ house in Kitchener.

“They didn’t touch anything else – they just grabbed the dog,” Wang says.

It’s possible that the culprit got into the house through a window that was left open.

Waterloo Regional Police are investigating the theft of Tank. One of the dog’s online followers has offered up $1,000 for Tank’s safe return, while Wang says he’s willing to part with $2,500 on top of that.

“I just want my puppy back, and I’m willing to pay someone for it,” he says.

Even if the dog is found and returned to Wang, there is a chance that it could be taken away in the future.

Tank has some characteristics similar to breeds banned under Ontario’s anti-pit bull legislation.

Courtney Horst of the Kitchener-Waterloo Humane Society says determinations on whether certain dogs are banned breeds aren’t made until the dog is around one year old.

“It could very well be a dog that looks similar to a pit bull, but isn’t,” she says of Tank.

“There are many different types of dogs that do look like pit bull-type dogs, but they don’t have the muscle stature (or) the prominent cheekbones.”

With reporting by Marc Venema