The dog is back.

A life-sized chocolate Labrador statue stolen last week from atop a Lawrence man’s grave returned Wednesday to its rightful owner after a passer-by found it lying in a ditch. The statue is still intact, but it is missing a collar and has a cracked leg.

Vera Hadl hugs Cocoa, the chocolate Labrador statue that stands sentry over her husband's grave. The statue, which was reported stolen last week, was found by a friend Tuesday in a ditch beside a rural road.

“I am just so thankful that it’s back,” said Vera Hadl, who bought the $350 statue for the grave at Oak Hill Cemetery of her late husband, Richard Hadl, because it looked so much like his favorite dog, Cocoa.

Richard Hadl died in 2002, and his widow placed the statue at his gravesite earlier this year

Ronda Bigger, of Eudora, said she was driving to work about 8 a.m. when she spotted the dog in a ditch on North 1500 Road near Eudora Riverview Golf. She stopped because she thought it was a real dog. Not knowing of Hadl’s story, she put it in her trunk.

When she came to work at CEK Insurance in Lawrence, she mentioned her find to a co-worker. The co-worker had seen local news reports about the missing statue and thought it likely belonged to Hadl.

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Hadl drove to meet Bigger — who, by coincidence, is a former co-worker from 20 years ago — and said she knew it was her dog the moment Bigger opened her car’s trunk.

Hadl said police had told her it was unlikely they’d catch the thief. She said she planned to put the statute back at her husband’s grave.

“Everyone keep their hands off it. It’s for the cemetery,” she said.