DURANT, Okla. (KTEN) – For Khrystian Rice, it was a heart-stopping moment: Walking out of the Durant Walmart to find her car and her five-month-old Australian shepherd therapy dog gone.

Friday marks three weeks of reaching out online and posting flyers around town. 

“I went in there, it wasn’t even 20 minutes,” Rice said. “I spent most of that time in the self checkout. And whenever I came out, my car and Miles were gone.”

Miles does a lot more than sit and stay.

“He knows how to respond whenever I’m crying. Or whenever I don't get out of bed, he wants to go outside and play,” Rice said. “Keeping me active and getting me to go outside and doing things like that have really helped with my mental health and getting me active myself.”

Khrystian Rice is trying to find her stolen therapy dog.
Khrystian Rice is trying to find her stolen therapy dog. (Courtesy)

Efforts to find the person responsible have thus far come up short.

“The police officer said that he saw somebody that was watching me from the trailer park, and whenever I went inside was when he got into my car,” Rice said.

But a security camera recording couldn’t identify a perpetrator beyond the color of their clothes.

“They checked the cameras, but they said that the footage itself was too grainy to see the suspect,” Rice said.

Rice said she's run into many roadblocks during her search.

“It’s been hard to get a further reach because Facebook communities are so localized that it’s hard for people outside of their communities to reach them,” Rice said.

So now, it’s up to her and a few others to track down the service dog.

Rice has posted an $800 reward for Miles. If you see him, you can contact her directly.