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Dog Owners Meet Woman Who Helped Rescue Stolen Pets, Present Her With Reward

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Hailed as a hero for her role in finding seven stolen dogs, a South Side hair salon owner met some of the pets' owners Friday, and received a reward for her efforts.

Tad Tomita and Rob Sayre had nothing but praise for Daisy Bowers on Friday, a day after she helped police track down their dogs.

On Wednesday, two men stole a minivan belonging to Urban Out Sitters, and seven dogs were in cages in the back. The van was abandoned some time later in the South Loop, across from Bowers' hair salon.

Bowers spotted the van Thursday morning, and saw one of the dogs sitting on the front seat for more than an hour.

"He looked so sad looking in the window, like 'Help me,'" Bowers said.

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She called police, who found all seven dogs inside. The dogs were soon reunited with their owners.

"It's awesome. You know, I'm so thankful for her," Sayre said. "It was a hard thing to go through, but it turned out great thanks to Daisy here."

The dogs were shivering from the cold when they were found, but otherwise were just fine.

"She's acting like nothing – our dog, I should say – is acting like nothing ever happened," Tomita said.

Sayre and Tomita visited Bowers' salon on the 2100 block of South Wabash Street on Friday, bearing reward checks.

"It's a joy just to help someone, or just to see other people happy. It's a joy," Bowers said. "It's a nice ending to it."

The ending wasn't entirely happy for the dog owners. Tomita and Sayre said they were misled by Urban Out Sitters, whose owner didn't mention the van was left running and unattended on Wednesday. They were told an Urban Out Sitters driver was carjacked at gunpoint.

"They owe us an explanation, for sure," Tomita said.

He and Sayre said they haven't made up their minds whether or not they'll take their dogs back to Urban Out Sitters.

"We haven't made any final decisions yet about what we're going to do moving forward," Tomita said.

Police said the thieves showed a gun to a witness who tried to intervene after the thieves had driven away with the van, and the dogs inside.

WBBM has been unable to reach Urban Out Sitters owner Joseph Giannini for a response.

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