A heartless car thief took a pooch on a joyless joyride through Windsor Terrace before abandoning the vehicle with the helpless pup imprisoned inside it on Wednesday — but this shaggy dog story had a happy ending thanks to a concerned neighbor who alert cops to the starving dog in time.
“I’m so grateful,” said the pup’s owner, Kira West, who had been searching for her pilfered SUV — and, more important, her beloved Pekinese Ashley — for 24 hopeless hours after the car disappeared from Windsor Place near Prospect Park Southwest at noon as she ran a quick errand.
“I thought you were in a Dumpster somewhere!” West said — to the dog — when they were finally reunited on Thursday afternoon.
The happy reunion would never have happened were it not for the eagle eyes (yes, that’s a pun) of neighbor Clara Turner, who heard the hungry hound barking from inside its four-wheeled prison after it was abandoned on Windsor Place between Eighth Avenue and Prospect Park Southwest, four blocks from the theft.
The heroic neighbor called cops and gave them the license plate number of the car, which was quickly matched to West’s stolen vehicle report.
Within an hour, Ashley was a free dog, and neighbors from all along the block were joining in the happy denouement.
“It’s great that Clara saw it,” said resident Audrey Segrell. “Who would do something like this?”
A good question. Cops are still hunting the thief.
