Woman helps bring Florida family's kidnapped, stolen French bulldog home

ORLANDO, Fla. - Tun-Ching and Ming-Cheng are die-hard Frenchie lovers. They have four in total – three girls and one boy.

"Two of them are trouble-makers," said Ching. "But she’s an angel dog," he said, gesturing to one of the dogs, named Tequila.

That’s part of why the family was so stricken when that angel dog, Tequila, was stolen back in June.

Here’s how it happened: 

A woman befriended the family at a dog park and offered to take care of Tequila while the family was in the process of moving. 

But then, she wouldn’t give the dog back.

"I had never thought about something like this," said Ching.

The family tried everything they could think of. They’re from Taiwan, so they speak English as a second language, which made things difficult.

They called the police, talked with lawyers, and even tried tagging celebrities in social media posts and reaching out to the Taiwanese embassy. 

"We’re not going to give up," Ching remembers thinking.

They also got help from Donna Bourget who runs an organization called You Will Be Found Lost Dogs.

"I just knew I had to help them," said Bourget.

She helped them get to small claims court, where a judge found the family that took the dog had done so through fraud, writing,

"This transaction was an orchestrated scheme between family members that took advantage of the language barrier with [the Cheng family]".

A deputy went to get Tequila and take her back right away. 

"I was completely in tears," said Bourget. "I mean, just it was I said, oh, another Christmas miracle."

"We were so happy when we saw her," said Ching. "But that was probably just a couple of seconds."

Their happiness faded quickly when they saw what had happened to their dog.

Tequila was still a puppy when she was taken; she’d never been in heat.

When the family got her back, they saw she’d been bred and had a c-section.

Now, the family is celebrating her return home, and figuring out their next steps.

The family says the fight isn’t over. Moving forward, they’re going to be fighting to get Tequila’s puppies back.