A mother in Miami, Florida, battling cancer, is claiming that a temporary dog sitter is refusing to return her puppy. The boarder has now kept the pooch for seven months.
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The Dog Was a Gift
As reported by the Daily Mail, Hanna Bustos is about to undergo chemotherapy. And just when she needs her one-year-old family poodle the most, a boarder refuses to return the four-legged friend.
The puppy, named Lucie, was a gift for Bustos' 14-year-old son. She said the dog was his best friend.
"I felt instant betrayal because I know that my son trusted me to trust her, and I made a judgment call that was not helpful for my family, and I could only think about him,' said Bustos. "That's the truth: How was I going to tell my son?"
Bustos said that when she told the dog sitter about her cancer diagnosis, the sitter insisted the dog's move to the facility was permanent.
"'She said, "I'm very sorry you're going through that, but it doesn't change my decision,'" recalled Bustos.
The Mother Has Filed Two Police Reports Against the Dog Sitter
Bustos is now taking legal action against the dog sitter. She has filed two police reports and hired an attorney to help bring Lucie home, though she admits she had no written agreement with the sitter.
Bustos insists that the dog was given to the dog sitter to foster. It was "not a rehoming, not abandonment, not rejoining." The dog was microchipped and had been vaccinated.
Yesterday, Sep. 7, she posted on Instagram Stories that she was waiting at the police station with her family after sending a demand letter to the dog sitter.
"Return Lucie into the custody of Hanna Bustos unconditionally, no later than 5pm on Monday, September 7, 2026," it read.
Lucie has not been returned. When a local news outlet visited the dog sitter, she declined to comment, and dogs barked inside her house.
