WESTMINSTER, Colo. (CBS4) – A puppy left inside a stolen pickup truck has been reunited with her family after the family spent days looking all over Longmont for their 5-month-old black Labrador.

It appears the suspect gave the dog to someone who then handed the puppy to a stranger at a gas station at Colfax and Kalamath in Denver. The stranger’s father contacted a friend who works at Westminster Animal Management and was able to check the dog’s microchip, leading to a heartwarming moment.

On Thursday, Steve Cullen put his black lab inside his truck in Longmont so she could get warm. They were getting ready to go home, so Cullen left the keys in the ignition outside his business. Fifteen minutes later he discovered his truck and his dog, Cheyenne, were gone.

The Cullen family was reunited with their puppy Sunday night at Westminster police headquarters.

The truck was stopped by an officer in Fort Collins at 3 a.m. Saturday. Police say Mark Cittadino of Loveland was behind the wheel.

Mark Cittadino (credit: Larimer County Sheriff’s Office)

“He did rotten things, taking things, and that’s what he was trying to sell things,” Cullen said.

“If it wasn’t for the chip they would not have had it,” Cullen said. “Westminster didn’t know anything about it until he took a scan to do it, and that’s what saved the day.”

Cittadino is in the Larimer County Jail charged with theft.

Microchips only cost about $30.