Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Your best bet is to file a police report. Keeping your dog is theft.

*Due to the limitations of the LawGuru.com Forums, The Gibbs Law Firm, APC's (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. Further, information you provide to the Firm through this website is not confidential - it is available publicly to anyone visiting this website. The Firm shall have no obligation to keep the information you provide herein confidential in any context. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence. As required by 11 U.S.C. �528, we must now disclose that, "We are a debt relief agency. We help people file for bankruptcy relief under the Bankruptcy Code. Assistance we provide with respect to Debt Relief may involve bankruptcy relief under the Bankruptcy Code."

I'm not so sure it's theft. Maybe, but establishing the necessary criminal intent would be tricky. Also, the cops are pretty busy with violent crime, and I think you'd be lucky to get them at all interested. My inclination would be to treat it as a civil matter, maybe by asking for money damages in small claims court, which might result in the dog's return, rather than pay your claim.