Man says puppy snatched from car in smash and grab - UPDATE: Safe and sound

The equivalent of a puppy Amber alert has been issued for Payton, a young Schnoodle reportedly taken from a car parked in the back lot of Piecora's on Saturday night while the dog's owners dined inside. Here is part of the note from Payton's owner posted to the West Seattle Blog:

Our 10mth old puppy, Payton (named after the Glove. In honor of my lost and beloved Sonics), was stolen from our car tonight while we were dining at Piecora's. He is a Schnoolde (Schnauzer/Poodle mix) and weights 13.5 lbs. We were parked in their back lot and planned to go to the Beverage Place in W. Seattle afterwards as they allow dogs. I had to talk my wife into letting him come as I felt bad locking him back up after working all day. The camera [footage] literally shows them pull up, throw a boulder through our window, grabbed him and go.

Payton's owner is offering a reward for the dog's safe return.

Purebred Schnoodle puppies are for sale for $650 on this breeder's Web site. There is currently no law in the city that prohibits leaving a pet inside a vehicle during typical Seattle temperatures.

UPDATE 3/30/09 9:30AM:
Payton the Schnoodle is back home. The dog's owner tells West Seattle Blog the stolen pup was found wandering the streets of Federal Way this morning:

I don’t even know how to describe what happened in the last 28 hours or so but my wife and I are in total disbelief. We just got our beloved Payton back. Apparently sometime around 9am this morning the thieves dropped him on a busy 4 lane road in Federal Way. 2 ladies on their way to church saw him and picked him up. They posted some ads around Federal Way but saw the clip on KOMO and called it in.

The owner also had some nice words for Piecora's. "The owner’s of Piecora’s were so helpful and caring and deserve a lot business their way. The owner came in (Sunday) just to get me the footage that SPD decided to ignore (as it was just a theft of “personal property”) so we could get it on air and out to people."