"Is Telecommunications company and subcontracting company liable in civil court when employee commits felony theft on the job"?

A very well known telecommuncations company hired a subcontractor to do some utility line work in our backyard. My wife and I were not home when the two men arrived, but my mother-in-law was. At some point, one of the men while working in the backyard asked my mother-in-law "whose dog is that"? (We had our 3 month old pitbull puppy secured to a fence post before the men arrived. We actually had no idea that they would be coming that day.) Anyway, my mother-in-law responded by saying, "the dog belongs to my son-in-law". Two hours later, my wife and I arrive home to find our puppy gone. It's at this point that my mother-in-law shares with us the question that one of the men had asked her regarding the dog. I immediately began to have suspicions that one or both of the men were responsble for taking my dog. Upon completion of their work, the men left a card with the name and telephone number of their company, which is something I'm sure they do all the time. I called the number and got voicemail. I leave a message explaining that I had good reason to believe that one of their employees may be responsible for the theft of my puppy and that someone needs to call me immediately before I get the police involved! At this time it;s about 4:00pm Saturday afternoon. Around 10:00am the next morning, I get a call from someone explaining that one of the employees did in fact take my puppy. He goes on to say that the puppy would be returned within 2 hours. To make a long story short, my wife and I catch the young trying to put the puppy back in our yard and take off without confronting us. We ask him very sternly to step into our house and have a seat. My wife then goes upstairs to call the police. The police arrive and arrest him for felony theft. My question is: Can we sue both companies in civil court?