Kristen Riefkohl's dog, named Louis (French like LEW-ee), is a 1 ½ year old pure bred French bulldog.
She said she tied the dog to a pole near the store's entrance. According to witnesses, two men walked by and started petting the dog. One of them kept going. The other knelt down, unhooked him from his leash and walked off with Louis.
Witnesses said the man took off down 7th Avenue. Kristen came out four minutes later and found the leash, but no dog.
The whole thing was caught on surveillance video.
A couple of hours later, a Good Samaritan had just gotten out of a Big East game at Madison Square Garden and saw the dog on her way to Penn Station.
She made an off the cuff remark about how she always wanted a French bulldog, and the guy said he would sell her the dog if she wanted. She said he claimed he got it from a breeder who was a friend of his. He was with a couple of other people, and somebody threw out $100 as a price tag.
The woman thought something suspicious was going on and managed to get Kristen's phone number off the dog tag. She called Kristen to ask if she had lost a dog, and then signaled a police officer.
Police were questioning two people late Wednesday night.
