The owners of a missing dog that was inside a truck stolen at the parking lot of a Huntington Beach hotel over the weekend have offered $1,000 for the safe return of the pet.

Diego is a 13-year-old Chihuahua who was sitting in a truck that was briefly parked at Hotel Huntington Beach, 7667 Center Ave., the pet and vehicle’s owner, Scott Hern, 58, of Long Beach, said. He had just finished helping relatives check in when he saw his pickup, a lifted, dark gray Chevy Silverado with a custom lightbar, pulling out of the parking lot at about 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 12.

“I must have ran the distance of a football field, and was yelling ‘Wait, my dog is in the truck!;” Hern said. “I just wanted them to let him out so I’d be able to pick him up.”

Hern has hardly slept since then. The longshoreman said his home has been too quiet without his “little man” waiting in their favorite chair to welcome him after a long day at work.

Hern took time off from his job to leave fliers in Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, Laguna Beach, San Clemente, Westminster and Buena Park. His family is offering $1,000, no questions asked, to anyone who returns Diego or brings him to an animal shelter.

“Please feed him, and take him to a shelter,” Hern said through tears. “Just say that you found him.”

His family reached out to people via social media and has received an outpouring of support, Hern said. Some have sent in pictures of recently found brown chihuahuas resembling the missing pet, but none of those were Diego.

“People will be able to tell it’s him because his nails are too long,” Hern said. “And he does his happy dance when you say his name.”

Diego is no larger than 8 inches tall and has a tendency to stand on his hind legs when he is called, Hern said. He is skittish, has what his owner described as doe-like eyes and suffers from a heart murmur.

Hern’s family took Diego in four years ago after previous owners decided they would be unable to care for him. The Chihuahua became Hern’s “best friend over the years,” and he said he can’t help but feel partially responsible for the dog’s apparently inadvertent abduction.

“I never leave him in the truck, and we were just supposed to be out for a few minutes,” Hern said. “And I keep wondering if I could have done something if I had just been there a minute sooner. That’s my little guy, my best friend, and I’m supposed to protect him.”