Watching video of police chase, woman finds her lost dog. ‘I couldn’t believe it’

After days of searching, an Oceanside woman had given up hope that she’d find Catalina, her 9-month-old puppy who went missing soon after Thanksgiving.

But then Salina Hurtado saw her dog on the news.

She said she watched, disbelieving, as a TV news anchor talked of a pursuit in Valley Center. A dog was shot when deputies fired at a man accused of trying to run them over in a stolen van.

Video of the incident showed a white pit bull with a distinctive brown spot being carried away by a deputy. The young dog was excitedly licking the woman’s face.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Hurtado said. “I remember thinking, ‘My poor baby got into a high-speed chase? Is this for real?’ But I knew it was her.”

The 35-year-old said Catalina went missing from the apartment complex where she and her husband live on Nov. 25.

“We went to feed her and she was just gone,” Hurtado said. They searched the area and asked neighbors to be on the lookout, but they started to believe someone had taken her.

A week after the dog went missing, a neighbor tracked down Hurtado’s husband. He said he thought he saw Catalina on the news.

The couple quickly Googled “pit bull shot in Valley Center.”

“The story was everywhere,” Hurtado said.

After watching a clip on CBS News 8’s website, she called the television station. Someone told her the puppy had been taken to the County of San Diego Animal Services shelter in Carlsbad.

Hurtado said she went to the shelter with veterinary records and pictures of Catalina in hand to help prove her ownership. She was told, however, that they would need to wait before picking up the pup.

That’s because Kevin Meza, the suspect who was arrested after the high-speed chase, claimed the dog was his. Dan DeSousa, director of the county’s animal services department, said since Catalina wasn’t licensed or microchipped, the county is legally required to give Meza two weeks to contest Hurtado’s claim.

“We will be holding the dog through the legally required 14 days at which time we will allow the family to claim the dog,” DeSousa said.

While the Oceanside family waits, they’re asking the community for help. Catalina accrued hundreds of dollars in medical bills while she was being treated for her gunshot wound.

Lyndsay Winkley writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.