Long Beach couple pleads for return of stolen dogs

(FOX 11) - Heartache for a couple whose home was broken into on Monday night in Long Beach. Burglars got away with valuable items. But, they took something even more valuable and irreplaceable: The couple's dogs.

For Greg Simon and Saira Qazi, everything was normal on Monday until they got home from work and saw their home on Monlaco Road had been broken into. L

"My initial first reaction is where are the dogs?" said Qazi. "And then he goes inside and then he sees the screen door has been ripped off and he says I think we've been burglarized."

The couple's two Shih Tzu dogs, Winston, 14, and Wesley, 11, were stolen during the burglary that happened just before 5 p.m.

It was a crime Qazi and Simon said they never thought they'd be victims of in the safe neighborhood where they grew up.

"Someone could do something so personal is take someone's animals from them in broad daylight. It just puts a whole new perspective on things," she said.

"We don't have children so they're like family members to us. They're like children to us. All we want is our dogs back," Simon told FOX 11 reporter, Leah Uko. "Like she said they could have taken anything, but to take our animals is just really kind of low."

They said Long Beach police do not want the suspect description or vehicle released to the public.

Neighbors' security cameras caught the theft that happened in broad daylight.

Qazi and Simon hope the footage solves this case.

"We just want our dogs back. And that's all we want. We don't care about the material possessions. All that can be replaced. We just want our dogs."

The thieves also took a laptop and a platinum diamond ring that was passed down to Qazi from her mother.

The couple said they usually leave their back sliding-glass door open for the dogs so they can go outside to use the restroom. They said this was a naive mistake they would not make anymore.