During these very troubling and strange times, we can definitely all agree that the doctors, medical workers, and nurses are absolute heroes who put their lives on the line every single day.

At the risk of their own infection, they’re concerned about their patients’ health, will work tirelessly, and are always extremely committed.

Shaila Mahler from California is one of those people. She works as an emergency nurse in Concord, at a local hospital.

The woman works long shifts and has a very stressful job, to say the least, which has also been quite hard on her family.

Her little four-year-old boy was about to celebrate his birthday, and Shaila had a great idea. One that wouldn’t only surprise him, but one that would introduce a new friend in the home and relieve some of her own stress, as well.

The emergency nurse decided to adopt an incredibly cute puppy!

Max, an 11-year-old Malinois, would absolutely brighten up the entire family home and everyone was more than willing to give him the tender love and care he deserves.

Max would be an ideal playmate for Shaila’s son, and she would have a new furry best friend to take her mind off the current situation and her incredibly demanding, stressful job.

Since Shaila wanted to keep Max’s adoption a surprise until the birthday, the adorable pooch stayed with her mom until the big day arrived.

However, Max was abducted before the nurse even had a chance to bring the puppy home.

“I was shocked and my heart just really dropped,” the hard-working nurse said to KTVU after a Saturday shift. “I had a complete nausea in my stomach.”

The local police department has a description of the man who abducted Max, and they clearly want to find the perpetrator and bring him to justice.

There was security footage and even though there wasn’t a clear look on his face because he was wearing a mask, they still hope they can find the man who did this.

“Warning, you are about to get really mad,” the Concord Police Department posted on their Facebook page.

“The suspect is described as an adult male, wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt (red patches on elbows), dark ball cap, blue jeans, dark shoes, and blue rubber gloves. He carried Max away from the area riding a gold and white bicycle.”

They included the captured security footage, and also published some more clear images a couple of days later. It certainly was a good idea to expose this dognapper on their social media page, as it has already been shared thousands of times.

People even launched a hashtag in the hopes of recovering the stolen pooch, #FindMax.

Shaila’s family is incredibly concerned about the wellbeing of the puppy.

She fears that Max will be neglected by whoever has him now, or even worse, that people will abuse him in dogfighting matches. She also thinks that the perpetrator actually stole things in the house before and that this wasn’t an unplanned theft.

“We don’t want that. Our goal was to have him as a loving family dog that could provide security.”

Unfortunately, the police department has no update on the whereabouts of Max or the identity of the dognapper.

“If you are the person who took my dog, we are not home right now just drop him off in the backyard,” the nurse said, hoping this message would reach whoever took her dog.

To learn more about this heartbreaking story and how you might be able to help, watch the video below.

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Source: Concord Police, KTVU/CBS