NORTH FORK, NY — Every parent knows the panic of realizing a child's favorite doll or stuffed animal is missing. And, if you're the mom who's been trying desperately to retrace your steps and find your little girl's missing stuffed dog on the North Fork, you're in luck.

MaryGrace Steinfeld posted about the missing stuffed toy on Facebook Thursday. She said her friend, Gabriella Samolewski, had information — and that it had been found.

According to Samolewski, on Monday morning she was working at North Fork Doughnut Company on Love Lane in Mattituck, decorating the doughnuts. Another staffer, Rachel, got a call from a distraught mother, trying to find the stuffed puppy.

"It's her daughter's favorite," Samolewski said.

But, although they searched the counters and around the shop, they couldn't find the toy; no notes had been left by the weekend crew, stating that it had been located.

"We told the mom that it wasn't here — and we didn't take her number," Samolewski said.

However, on Thursday morning, when Samolewski was done decorating her doughnuts, suddenly, she saw the stuffed dog on the counter. "Someone must have found it somewhere in the shop," she said.

But was no way to contact the child's mother — and so, she and Steinfeld took to social media in the hopes that another parent might see the photo and alert the mom.

Anyone who finds the mom and little girl looking for their lost toy should call the North Fork Doughnut Company at 631-298-7941 so they can give the child back her stuffed pup.

Samolewski, who has a teenage son, knows the anguish the mom must be feeling. "It would be so great, really gratifying, if we could reunite this little girl with her stuffed animal," she said.

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