Even though Kevin Coachman and his German Shepherd Lucca have been together for only three months, the pair is inseparable. So when Lucca was stolen from Coachman’s backyard in Harvey, Illinois, he was devastated.
“It feels like a violation and the hardest part is I can’t do nothing about it,” he told ABC7.
Lucca, a year and a half year old German Shepherd, is a seeing eye dog and helps Coachman with every day tasks. Without Lucca, Coachman said he has no independence.
In 2001 Coachman was shot multiple times during a carjacking. He began losing his eyesight not long after, and four years ago he lost it completely.
“It’s like walking in a dark room and you don’t know what you can trip over or who’s in that room. Or anything like that. It’s always scary,” he said.
But with Lucca, life for the 58-year-old has been a little bit easier.
Recently, after a day out Coachman brought Lucca into his backyard while he went inside to get Lucca food and water. By the time he returned, his dog was gone.
Coachman and his wife alerted police and pleaded with the public to return the “good boy.”
“I pray that God will put it in on your heart to return him, and if not take care of Lucca. He’s a good boy,” Coachman said Friday.
The following morning Coachman received a call from a teen. The teen, who lived in the neighborhood, confessed that his friends had stolen Lucca and he realized their actions were wrong.
Within hours of pleading for the return of his beloved seeing eye dog, Lucca was home again.
Stolen guide dog named Lucca returned to blind owner after backyard theft in Harvey
Kevin Coachman, who is blind, said one of the teens who took Lucca had a change of heart. The specially trained German shepherd went missing from his backyard in south suburban Harvey on Tuesday.
Lucca, a specially-trained German Shepherd, was returned to Kevin Coachman of Harvey.
“I’m so glad to have my guide dog back, my friend and my eyes,” Coachman said.
I’m so glad too. Share this and thank the teen for having a change of heart and returning Lucca to Kevin.
