Ryan Hood and his wife Elena Sardi were living every parent's worst nightmare when they discovered their home had been broken into.

Elena and her daughter Maia were just returning home from a doctor's appointment when they discovered their house had been burgled. A team of thieves managed to steal the family's iPad, a laptop, and some of Elena's jewelry. But, shockingly, they had also taken the family's pet dog.

Sasha, an eight-week-old Labrador, had only been living with the family for a week when she was dognapped. She had been sleeping in the family's backyard during the home invasion and was apparently taken by the thieves. While the entire family said they were "heartbroken," four-year-old Maia took the news the hardest.

"She's an only child and the only addition to the family would be a pet and we picked the dog, we picked Sasha and Sasha picked us," Ryan explained. Soon the pet theft was national news in Australia, and Maia's parents pleaded on TV for little Sasha to found safe and sound.

The family also worried about Sasha's safety, since she has a serious medical condition and isn't supposed to interact with other dogs.

"I don't care about the rest but the dog, we want her home as soon as possible," Elena said. Luckily, someone out there was listening to her.

After Sasha had been missing for just three days, the little dog was dropped off in the family's garden, totally unharmed.

"We didn't want to get our hopes up. And then this morning, my wife got up to make herself a coffee, walked past the sliding door, and noticed that there was a figure moving by the kennel," Ryan told Today Australia.

"We think that whoever took her has either has a conscience or got scared and just dropped her over the fence ... we don't care to be honest, we're just glad to have her back."

The Victoria Police shared a video of Maia and Sasha's adorable reunion:

There's one more detail that may have inspired the robbers to change their minds: little Sasha was microchipped. In news articles about the dognapping, police warned that the dog could be traced by police or at any vet clinic.  

Senior Constable Adam Leggo of the Victoria Police guesses that the crooks simply got in over their heads, and decided to return the dog and cut their losses. "It's a bit of a strange one," he said. "It's difficult to understand what they were thinking."

Then again, maybe the criminals really did see the error of their ways. Although, none of the electronics or other valuables were returned with the dog.

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[H/T: ABC, BBC]