ORLANDO, Fla. — An Orange County family says their beloved dogs who had gotten loose from a backyard were being held for ransom by someone who picked them up.

• Family's 2 huskies got out of backyard 1 day after Christmas
• Witness reported seeing man loading them into truck
• Family says they got a text asking what the "reward" was for return
• Owner says dogs were recovered in overnight exchange

The incident happened the day after Christmas, according to an Orange County Sheriff's Office incident report.

A family member had let the two Siberian huskies out in their backyard in the Meadow Woods community. But they apparently dug their way out and had gotten loose in the neighborhood.

A neighbor spotted the dogs, named Koda and Drift, a short while later, along with man thought to be in his 20s or 30s who drove a dual-rear-wheel gray truck.

He reportedly told her he'd take them to a nearby shelter and loaded them into his truck, but then didn't, the Sheriff's Office report says.

The family put out "lost dog" signs with their number. Then the family says they got a text message.

"The text messages said, 'What is the reward? — something like that — $4,000??' At that moment, I was like, 'Let me talk to my family.' I said, 'Can you show me if you have any proof of them?' He said yes," said Edwin Jacobo, the brother of the boyfriend of dog owner Amanda Noonan.

In the incident report, the text conversation says the "unknown person" replied to Jacobo, "You dont trust me forget it you never going to see it again. Bye thanks for you dogs they are very very friendly. No thanks bye bye."

The dogs were being trained as service dogs after a family member's stroke, the family says.

"When she walks, the two dogs walk alongside of her to make sure she stays steady in her gait, because she does have left sided deficits," Noonan said.

On Saturday, Noonan said in a statement that in an overnight exchange, the dogs had been returned to the family.

She said she got a call late Friday night from a man who said he had the dogs. She said she met up with the man — and brought along a half-dozen police officers.

Noonan thanked the Orange County Sheriff's Office, officers and detectives, as well as the community, for helping her recover Koda and Drift.

"Without all of you sharing and keeping your eyes open, we wouldn’t have this happy ending," her statement said. "Only goes to show there are still good people in this world."