A dog-loving migrant worker in Hangzhou who just had to have a German Shepard landed himself with a year in prison after sneaking one out of a kennel.

Xia once worked in the kennels, where he fell in love with the dogs. Upon his return home to Anhui Province, his passion got the better of him and he snuck back to spirit away a 5-month-old German Shepherd in June.

Caught while escaping with the pup, which was valued at about 8,000 yuan (US$1,011), Xia was sentenced days ago with one year in jail and fined 3,000 yuan (US$379).

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