As much fun as it sounds, you can’t rent puppies from Petland. Authorities and Petland employees remain baffled at a recent two-state canine crime spree that ended when tiny white puppies from three different stores were smuggled back into a Missouri Petland.

The alleged puppy thief used the same method to steal all three: asking to play with the pups in the store, then slipping them into her purse and exiting the store. The reasons why someone would do such a thing are no mystery. As toy breeds, the three puppies–two Havanese and one Maltese–have a high retail value, especially since some people still think it’s a good idea to give living creatures as holiday gifts. They could go for up to $1,000 each.

Because it involves puppies, the theft received a lot of local media attention. Authorities speculate that this media attention is the reason why the suspect brought them back, and not because she was involved in an elaborate puppy-borrowing scheme.

Adding an extra layer of mystery is how the pups were smuggled back into the store: a customer says that a bearded man talked them into carrying the trio into a store near St. Louis. The puppies seemed healthy and unharmed.

Woman returns puppies she stole from store [KTVI] (Thanks, Joe!)

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