Salt Lake County sheriff's investigators are looking for two men who attacked a professional dog breeder in her home and stole a pair of pit bull puppies advertised for sale.

Lindsey Martinez, who is celebrating her birthday today, says the biggest gift she could get is the safe return of her dogs.

"I hope to see them again. I would rather give them away for free to someone who will take care of them than have a guy like that have them," she said. "He doesn't care about the puppies. He doesn't care about the reputation of the breed."

About 1 p.m., one of the puppies that was stolen was returned by a teenage girl Martinez said looked "scared." The girl said she had bought the puppy from a man for $100. But when she heard about the theft, she returned the dog.

"I told her she did the right thing," Martinez said. "I thought I'd never see (the puppies) again."

By mid-morning Wednesday, sheriff's investigators said they had a good idea who they were after. After the puppies were stolen and the men ran out of Martinez's house with the dogs, a neighbor saw what was happening and wrote down the license plate of the getaway vehicle. The vehicle was registered to the father of one of the young men who investigators believe took the dogs, Martinez said.

The father spoke to the son and was arranging to have him return the dogs Wednesday morning. But Martinez said the man was a no-show at the designated time they were supposed to meet.

The incident began earlier this week when a young man and two female friends saw a sign in front of Martinez's house, near 5400 South and 4600 West, advertising pit bull puppies for sale. Martinez, who has won trophies and ribbons from dog show competitions for her pit bulls, said the mother and father dogs in her house recently had a litter of 11 puppies and all but two had been sold. The dogs were selling for $1,000 each.

One of the girls with the young man was the one who returned one of the dogs Wednesday. She said she did not know the man who sold her the dog very well, Martinez said.

After inquiring about the puppies the trio of potential buyers left. On Tuesday, the man returned, this time with another male friend. He told Martinez he wanted to buy a puppy for his girlfriend, she said. He asked to see the dog's papers.

As Martinez was going over the paperwork, one of the men threw her to the ground, grabbed the two puppies and ran out the door.

"It happened so quick. He just grabbed me and slammed me on the ground. I landed flat on my back on the tile. It knocked the wind out of me," Martinez said. "I jumped right up to go after him."