Roxy

Microchip helps reunite lost dog, owner after 2 years
Elizabeth Evans
Sep. 3

--Roxy the wayward affenpinscher has quite a tale to tell, if only she could.

Melissa Smith, executive director of the York County SPCA, said she and Roxy's owners have no clue where the little dog -- who got lost in Baltimore about two years ago -- has been, who had her, how they got her and how she managed to get away.

"It's a mystery," Smith said. "We may never know."

Roxy was brought to the Emigsville shelter on Wednesday from the Wal-Mart in West Manchester Township after the wiry-haired toy dog was found running inside the store with no tags, Smith said.

Roxy has a microchip imbedded under her skin, but it didn't immediately lead to her owners, Ronnie and Dorothea Jeffries of Craigsville, W.Va.

Fortunately, SPCA staffer Kim Feldman loves a good mystery as much as she loves dogs, Smith said.

"Whenever we get an animal mystery, which happens quite often, she loves to take those on," Smith said.

Feldman tracked the chip to the manufacturer, then to the Petland pet-store chain that had sold the chip in West Virginia.

Heartfelt reunion: Finally, Feldman found herself on the phone with an "ecstatic" Ronnie Jeffries, who drove from West Virginia Thursday to pick up his dog, Smith said.

"It was a very, very heartfelt reunion," she said. "That dog absolutely recognized him."

Roxy is now back home with Ronnie Jeffries, 63, and his wife, 58-year-old Dorothea Jeffries. The couple bought her as a puppy and had her for the next year and a half,

Dorothea Jeffries said. That's when she ran off.

"We were devastated when we lost her," she said. "We grieved and grieved. It's almost like losing one of your kids."

Roxy ran off in Baltimore a little more than two years ago while the Jeffrieses were there visiting family, Dorothea Jeffries said.

"We spent four days and nights searching for her," Dorothea Jeffries said -- knocking on doors, driving around, putting up fliers and offering a reward. They even hired a pet detective.

"We did everything possible," she said. "After six months, I gave up on getting her back."

'Total miracle': Dorothea Jeffries said she cried when they learned the good news.

"It's just a total miracle we got her back," she said.

As her husband was making the six-hour drive to York to retrieve their dog, Dorothea Jeffries said she worried that Roxy wouldn't be her same old self.

"But as soon as she saw me, it was like she'd never been gone," she said. "She knew she was home. She never forgot us."

Dorothea Jeffries said she always thought microchipping was "a money-making gimmick." She no longer feels that way.

"If it hadn't have been for that chip, we'd have never gotten Roxy back," she said. "I've been telling everybody about it. I would recommend to everybody to get those chips in their dogs."

Source: http://www.allbusiness.com/science-technology/life-forms-mammals-dogs/12145805-1.html
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