ATLANTA — Dramatic video shows a dog walker chasing after thieves who had just stolen two dogs at gunpoint. You can even hear one of them firing a shot.

The owners of the mixed bulldogs were on vacation when the dogs got snatched in the Castleberry Hills neighborhood in southwest Atlanta.

Joshua Cavanaugh said he was determined not to give up his friend’s dogs to the thieves when one of them fired a warning shot and another grabbed the dogs’ leashes and ran.

Now, the owners are doing everything they can to find their beloved pets.

Matt Livingston spent the day posting flyers about his stolen dogs, mixed-breed bulldogs named Scotch and Stogie. He and his partner, Brandon Odom, are devastated after the dogs were snatched as Cavanaugh walked them Sunday night. Livingston and Odom were on vacation in London when they woke up to multiple text messages and phone calls.

“I mean, they are our kids, you know? It’s very heartbreaking,” Livingston said.

Cavanaugh was walking the dogs when three young men, all with guns, approached him in the street demanding the dogs.

“In my head, I was thinking, ‘This isn’t really happening right now,’” Cavenaugh said. “And then he waved the gun around my head and said, ‘Don’t be stupid.’ And then he aimed it a little lower to my legs and then shot, and missed thankfully. One of them turns around and tells me to stop chasing them and fires another shot at me.”

The three men jumped in a car and sped off. The car crashed a few blocks away, but the thieves ran off with the dogs. Livingston and Odom said they can’t stop worrying about the kidnapped pups and are desperate to see them returned home.

“It’s been a surreal and traumatizing experience,” Livingstone said. “We are just so thankful Joshua is okay and just hope we can get them back.”

The man who was driving the car that the dognappers jumped in was arrested for an outstanding warrant and could face other charges. The dogs owners are offering a reward for their safe return.

WSB-TV’s Tom Regan contributed to this report.