Navy Veteran Searching For Emotional Support Dog That Was Given Away

UPDATE ON FEB. 17: The couple who took Champ the German shepherd returned him to Navy veteran Federico Palacios on Friday.

A Navy veteran is looking for his emotional support dog, which was found by a passer-by and given to strangers waiting in line at an animal shelter in Oklahoma City.

Federico Palacios said he got his German shepherd after he moved to Oklahoma to serve his last few years in the military. The dog, now 3 years old, serves as an emotional support dog for Palacios' PTSD and anxiety.

"If you're sitting on the couch, he's going to lay on the floor in front of you," said Palacios. "I can get on edge and I don't know how to act. So we did kind of train him, you know, if someone's at the front door, there's a sound - front, backyard, whatever - he pops up and goes and looks for me just so I'm more comfortable."

Palacios said about three weeks ago, his other dog, a husky, began digging holes underneath the fence of his yard to get to his neighbor's dog on the other side. Palacios said he had been patching up the fencing and the holes. But on Monday, his husky and his German shepherd dug a hole and escaped his yard once again. That day also happened to be when his neighbor's fence was being replaced, so the neighbor's front gate was missing. Palacios said the opening allowed his dogs to wander out into the neighborhood.

Palacios said he drove around looking for his two dogs and searched on social media. Palacios then downloaded the Nextdoor app and saw a post from someone saying he found both dogs nearby. The person said he was going to hold onto the dogs for a little while before taking them to PetSmart to scan them for microchips.

When Palacios saw the post, it was already four hours old. Palacios said when he made contact with the person, he learned the person had already taken both dogs to OKC Animal Welfare. While the person surrendered Palacios' husky to the shelter, the person gave Palacios' German shepherd to a couple who was standing in line.

"He said that he was worried that the shelter was going to put him down because of how overpopulated they are there. So someone happened to be standing next to him saying, 'Well, I've been looking for a German shepherd. I'll take him home right now,'" Palacios said.

The person apologized to Palacios, saying he gave the German shepherd to the couple because he didn't know the two dogs were from the same home. Although both of Palacios' dogs were microchipped, the German shepherd's chip did not get a hit when it was scanned at PetSmart, Palacios said. 

Palacios said he later learned that the chip's registration number was not put into the correct database after the scan, which was why the chip did not get a match. That led the person who found the dogs into thinking Palacio's German shepherd was a stray.

Jon Gary, superintendent of OKC Animal Welfare, said while cameras may have captured the faces of the couple who took Palacio's German shepherd, the couple did not leave their names or any information to contact them.

A witness recalled that the couple said they would make a post about the dog on Facebook to try to find the owner. But Palacios said as far as he knew, the couple had not made any posts.

Palacios said he contacted the shelter and filed a police report. But he said as of Wednesday afternoon, police had not called him back.

Palacio is asking anyone who knows the whereabouts of his German shepherd to call or text him at 817-657-1346. They can also comment on this Facebook post. A reward is being offered. 

Palacios said his plan was to eventually have his German shepherd receive training to become an official service animal.