He stole flowers, but left behind a dog — a long missing shih tzu, Texas police say

A man was confronted by an H-E-B manager as he tried leaving the store with a $15 floral arrangement without paying on Mother’s Day, police in Texas said.

In a hurry to get away, the man left a small dog behind in a shopping cart, according to a report from the Lytle Police Department.

Authorities with animal control were called to the grocery store and took in the shih tzu, police said. They checked the dog for a microchip and learned this dog did not actually belong to the suspected flower thief.

The shih tzu was a long-lost dog who has been missing from her home in Bexar County for two years, authorities said.

She has since been reunited with her family.

“We were visiting a friend in the ICU, having breakfast, when she got the call,” owner Mark Gonzales told MySanAntonio. “It was totally unexpected. Thank God my wife got her chipped, spayed and her shots back in 2018.”

The dog, named Leela, went missing while outside on a potty break, the news site reported. Her owners looked for her for months, but they thought maybe a coyote had gotten to her.

“This is a strange way to get my dog back, but at least we got her back,” Mark Gonzales told MySanAntonio.

The man who had the dog with him at H-E-B has not been found as of May 9, KSAT reported.

It is unclear how the man came to have Leela or if he was possibly involved in her disappearance.

“Hopefully, the dog hasn’t been on 2-year crime spree and picked up bad habits,” Police Chief Richard Priest joked in his weekly report.

Police have not publicly identified a suspect in the $15 theft.

“Nothing says I love you mom like stolen flowers,” Priest said.

Lytle is about 25 miles southwest of San Antonio.