Dog Stolen in the Valley Returns Home

A Stratford family who reported their dog Bella stolen on March 11 is now crediting Facebook for the 7-year-old yellow lab's safe return.

"After a heart wrenching 16 days for my father, he was reunited with Bella today," Jacqueline Novotny wrote yesterday in a post on the Facebook page Bring Bella Home, which had collected 2,260 "likes" as of late Thursday.

"A family in Hartford found her on the side of the road soon after she went missing and took her in," the post continues. "The family finally saw her on Facebook and called my dad this morning. He drove up immediately and there was no doubt that it was his little girl. Bella went flying into my dad's arms."

Bella was taken March 11 from a car in the parking lot of a Home Depot in Derby. Jacqueline's father, William Novotny, told the Valley Independent Sentinel that Bella was left alone in the car for about 10 minutes with the window open about 4 inches.

The Novotnys had offered a "no questions asked" $500 reward for the return of their dog, who has medical issues and takes medication.

"I would like to thank everyone who took time out of their day to share her picture (it was shared by more than 1,100 Facebook users) and our story," Jacqueline wrote in the post. "She is home where she belongs and we are grateful to each and every one of you! I just got off the phone with my dad and he said today was the first time he smiled in 16 days."