It could happen to any dog parent. A broken leash, a startling sound, an open door, a distracting scent… no matter how it happens, millions of dogs go missing every single year. While there isn’t yet a way to communicate to our dogs not to run and hide, there’s a way to help them get back to you when they do: microchips.
A story of a rescued stray dog from Texas illustrates this possibility. Honey arrived at the City of Antonio Animal Care Services as a stray, but a scan of his microchip suggested otherwise. The shelter wrote in a Facebook post:
“When he was picked up, we found a microchip which was registered to someone who had adopted Honey many years ago. We called the owner and let them know Honey would be at the shelter. While he was getting his initial shots upon entering our shelter, our staff got a call that his owner had already made it to ACS to reclaim in our front office.”
A Long-Awaited Reunion
Given how quickly the woman showed up after they called, employees were intrigued. Could there really be someone out there waiting for Honey, a dog believed to be a stray?
“One of our Intake Coordinators walked Honey up to the front to see if the pup would recognize the person reclaiming. The woman burst into tears as soon as she saw him, fell to her knees, and held him in her arms. She began to ask him if he remembered who she was.”
Honey showed that he definitely did recognize this person with his body language. Lisa Norwood, an ACS spokesperson, told KSAT:
“He did and she started hugging and kissing her dog who returned her affection with a wildly wagging tail. An ACS staffer asked her long has Honey been missing – she said 7 years!”
After all this time, Honey recognized his mama, and his happy tail said how much he missed her too.
A Microchip Ultimately Brought Honey Back To His Family
For the better part of a decade Honey was separated from his mom. Now, she has him in her arms again, hopefully for good this time! Though no one can say for sure where Honey was all this time, the bottom line is that Honey has his family back now.
“It’s hard to know what the pets we intake went through and where they are coming from. We are just grateful he made it to our shelter and had a chance to be reunited with his original adopter.”
Microchipping your dog and registering their chip can mean the difference between hope, joy, and heartbreak. Honey may have been lost for a while, but eventually he found his way back to his mom. The microchip made that possible. The City of Antonio Animal Care Services writes:
“Each pet leaves with a lifetime, registered microchip upon adoption. Because of this, Honey and his mom are now finally able to live their happily ever after!”
Registering your dog’s microchip takes just a few minutes and can obviously help tremendously in emergency situations. So if you haven’t done that yet, now’s a great time to do so!
H/T: KSAT.com
Featured Image: @SanAntonioACS/Facebook
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via Whisker Therapy