Sparkle, poodle

Service dog back at home with sick Hingham girl
By Neal Simpson, The Patriot Ledger
Apr 24, 2012

HINGHAM — She has a few new scrapes and a cut across one eye, but Sparkle the service poodle is finally back with 3-year-old Greer Ramsay.

The 1-year-old black poodle was returned to the family’s Hockley Drive home Sunday, a full week after she bolted through an open door and disappeared. She was captured in Webb State Park in Weymouth on Friday after an off-duty police officer spotted her swimming across the Back River from Stodder’s Neck.

“She’s gong to have to do a little rehabilitation, but she’s just the same and they are thrilled to be back together,” said Greer’s mother, Kate Ramsay. “It looks like we’re going to have our happy ending.”

Greer was born with spinal muscular atrophy, a hereditary disease that causes muscle degeneration and makes it difficult for her to crawl or sit up on her own. Sparkle was donated to the family by the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Massachusetts and Rhode Island in October and was being trained to help move Greer’s body for her.

Kate Ramsay said Sparkle seems more skittish and easily frightened than before her escape and may require additional training. But she said she is encouraged by reports from people who said they saw the lost dog crossing Beal Street at the crosswalk – just as she’d been trained to do.

“I don’t think it’s anything we can’t work with,” she said. “I think she’ll be a perfectly wonderful service dog.”

Sparkle was seen several times in the area around the Ramsay house in the first few days after her escape, but on Thursday night she bolted down Beal Street and across Route 3A to Stodder’s Neck, where she disappeared.

Leslie Badger, Hingham’s animal control officer, saw Sparkle coming ashore on the other side of the Back River and followed her to Webb State Park, where a crew of police officers and volunteers took turns watching her through the night.

The team captured Sparkle the next morning and took her to VCA South Shore Animal Hospital, where she was treated for scrapes, cuts and an eye infection. The family was initially worried that she might be contagious and kept her away from Greer, who has a compromised immune system.

“We had no idea whether she’d ever be able to come back to Greer,” Kate Ramsay said. “She’d been running with the coyotes for four days.”

Badger said Sparkle was fortunate to have survived so long around coyotes, highway traffic and well-meaning neighbors who inadvertently chased her out of the safety of the Ramsay neighborhood. But she said it wasn’t just luck that got Sparkle through it.

“She’s a very smart dog, and that’s why she’s the perfect candidate to be a service dog,” she said.

Source: http://www.patriotledger.com/answerbook/hingham/x643676588/VIDEO-Service-dog-back-at-home-with-sick-Hingham-girl

St Louis Blind Golden

Website Reunites Lost Dog With Owner
A blind golden retriever found in Town and Country is now back with her owner, thanks to a new lost pets website.

A dog found in Town in Country has been reunited with her owners thanks to a new website, www.stllostpets.org. The site covers the St. Louis area, as well as much of Missouri.

Stllostpets.org launched March 1 and it posts cats and dogs found around the state of Missouri. St. Louis County Animal Care and Control, the Humane Society of Missouri and APA are all working together and posting found pets on this one shared site. The pets photos and info are typically posted within one hour of an animal being brought to a shelter, so the pet owner can search the site for their missing cat or dog immediately.

Stllostpets.com helped an 8-year-old blind and arthritic golden retriever find her Town and Country family Wednesday.

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According to Town and Country Police Captain Gary Hoelzer, a Town and Country resident found the lost golden retriever standing at the Thornhill gate (at Mason Road) around 10:00 a.m. Sunday. The dog had a collar, but no tags. The dog is blind in one eye, partially blind in the other eye and has arthritis in her back hips.

According to Becky Smail, program manager with St. Louis County Animal Care and Control, the resident who found the lost dog kept her for a day trying to find her owner. With no luck, the the resident took the dog, which was microchipped, to Veterinary Specialty Services (VSS) in Manchester. There, the dog was treated for the arthritis pain, and then handed over to St. Louis County Animal Care and Control.

"I think they thought the dog had a better chance of being found if it were someplace people might look," Smail tells Patch.

And that is exactly what happened. The dog's microchip did not locate her owner. It traced back to Indiana, where the owner previously lived. Animal control then began the process of putting the lost dog up on stllostpets.org. It's an idea that Smail said was created by the Humane Society, so all lost pets could be posted in one place.

Every hour the website scans the databases of St. Louis County Animal Care and Control, the Humane Society of Missouri and the APA. Stllostpets.org then pulls the new information and photos and adds it to the website.

"It's a one-stop shop for people to find their pets," Smail explained.

It worked for the golden retriever's owner who found her missing dog on the site Wednesday and was able to pick up her pet the same day.

"They were shocked and very, very excited," Smail tells Patch. "You know, you have a blind dog with arthritis, it needs veterinary care as soon as possible."

Smail points out the success for this family finding its four-legged friend, is also a success for this new website that she hopes will continue to reunite people with their lost pets.

"The more people we can get to know about the website, the more pets we can get home," Smail explained.

The Town and Country woman who initially found the golden retriever did inquire about the process of what happens to a lost dog. She also asked about keeping the dog if her owner was not found, according to animal control records.

Source: http://townandcountry-manchester.patch.com/articles/lost-dog-reunited-with-owner-95194868#photo-9627913

Diebo, Boston terrier

Dog wearing chip is back on old block in Lake Worth
By Janis Fontaine Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 20, 2012

For Diebo, nothing was more fun that slipping out an open door. The little Boston terrier would look over his shoulder at Lizzette Cabrera, lips curled into a smile that practically said: "Betcha can't catch me!"

Lizzette Cabrera's 7-year-old Boston terrier Diebo disappeared from her home 6 years ago, but thanks to the dog's microchip he was discovered at the home of an animal hoarder and returned to her. 

But the fun and games ended when Diebo disappeared from his Lake Worth yard six years ago after scooting out an open door.

Cabrera and her three daughters were heartbroken. They searched and put up fliers and searched some more. They cried. They prayed. They checked shelters. Weeks went by, then years, and still, no Diebo.

Then, a few weeks ago, Cabrera's phone rang. She didn't recognize the number so she let it go to voice mail. It was Sgt. Michele Fox from Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control.

"She said, 'We think we have your dog, Diebo.' We were all crying," Cabrera said. "My daughter thought I was playing a joke on her."

As soon as Cabrera saw Diebo's two tiny bottom teeth, she was certain he was her dog, but it took Diebo a few minutes to recognize Cabrera. After all, it had been more than 40 years in dog years since he'd seen her.

When he remembered, the little terrier slammed into her, knocking her to the ground where he covered her face with tiny kisses.

Diebo had been rescued by PBCACC in mid-March from a woman officials are calling an animal hoarder. The 67-year-old woman had eight dogs living in a garbage-filled house on Plumosa Street in West Palm Beach.

Dianne Sauve, the director of Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control, says the animals were kept tied up day and night on short leashes, but had been well-fed.

Diebo, now 7, seems relatively unfazed by his six-year absence. No one knows how long he'd been at that house, or where else he might have been.

But Diebo could have been euthanized if he hadn't had a microchip - a tiny transmitter implanted under the skin of dogs and cats which, when scanned, links that animal to a human.

About the size of a large grain of rice, microchips are "the absolute ticket home" for a lost dog or cat, Sauve said. "Tags and collars can fall off. A microchip is permanently embedded, and shelters are required to scan animals that come in for a microchip before they do anything else."

But a microchip is only as good as the information the pet guardian provides, and Cabrera is one of those efficient people who is good at keeping up with paperwork. When she filled out the microchipping forms six years ago, she included five phone numbers; every phone number she had.

By the time Diebo was found, Cabrera and her family had moved from Lake Worth to Orlando and back to West Palm Beach. She and her husband had divorced. She had a new job in accounts payable at a not-for-profit mental health clinic. So much had changed, but one thing remained the same: Cabrera's cellphone number.

It took persistence on the part of Fox to keep dialing all those numbers, but it's just as rewarding to reunite a dog and owner as it is to be reunited. Only about a third of the dogs that come in to ACC are reunited with their owners, Sauve said. For cats, it's even fewer.

Animal Care and Control does keep its own microchip database, and no animal leaves ACC without a microchip, but only for the purpose of bringing pet and parent back together.

"The microchip is absolutely the best thing," Sauve said. "I wouldn't have a pet without one."

Cabrera's story had a happy if delayed ending.

Cabrera says, "I would like to remind everyone who owns and loves their pet about the importance of microchipping and keeping the phone numbers and home address accurate and up to date. Had I not kept the same phone number, they would have never found me."

Source: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/dog-wearing-chip-is-back-on-old-block-2316901.html
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Princess, bichon frise

Lost dog reunited with IE owner after 6 years thanks to microchip
Rob McMillan
Thursday, April 19, 2012


ONTARIO, Calif. (KABC) -- The story about a lost Bichon Frise starts back in 2006, when the little pup was adopted. Her new owner, April Allen, named her Princess.



"Just how cute she was, she was just fluffy, she looked like a big cotton ball, or little cotton ball rather, and I just fell in love with her," said Allen.

But she was only with Allen at her Pomona home for about nine months when one day, she disappeared.

"We just thought they were in the backyard playing, letting her have a good time with the other dog, and then all of a sudden they were just gone, they're nowhere to be found."

Allen thinks her dog escaped from backyard through a hole at the bottom of the fence here. Now the fence has since been repaired, but Allen never thought she'd see her dog again.

"It was sad, very sad, I put flyers out, and never found her," said Allen.

That was six years ago, and a lot has changed since then. Allen moved to Ontario. She's now married with four kids.

Needless to say, the phone call she recently got from Riverside County Animal Services was not one she was expecting.

"I just get a call out of the blue saying they found Princess and I said, 'What?!'"

Princess was apparently found wandering the streets in Riverside. Who knows what she's been through over the years. But because she was micro chipped by Allen, they were able to be reunited.

"Collars fall off, tags fall off, and so to have a microchip, which is a lifetime thing, to reunite the owner, it's a great thing to have," said Scott Reeves of Riverside County Animal Services.

Allen agrees. She credits her decision to chip the Princess as the reason for the reunion.

"If it wasn't for the chip, I never would have seen her again," she said.

And while a lot of time has passed since the two saw each other, Allen is certain Princess still recognizes her.

"She was in love with me, she jumped on my lap right away, it was just great, a great story," she said.

Source: 

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/inland_empire&id=8628549

Another video at:
http://www.ktla.com/videogallery/69539416/News/VIDEO-Family-Reunited-With-Dog-After-6-Years

Harley, Staffordshire bull terrier

Lost and found hound reunited with owner after Sutton Guardian appeal in Sutton
By Joanna Matwiejczyk
10:00am Thursday 19th April 2012

Colin Harding and Harley A Staffordshire bull-terrier feared stolen in a burglary has been reunited with his owners, thanks to the Sutton Guardian.

The dog, called Harley, went missing on Tuesday, April 10, after a burglary at a house in East Avenue, Wallington.

Dog owner Colin Harding’s home was broken into between 7.15pm and 9.05pm. The burglars searched two rooms upstairs but took no possessions.

Mr Harding, 53, believes the burglars took his dog and let it go after realising the age of the seven-year-old terrier.

The dog was recovered after the Sutton Guardian ran an appeal on this website.

He was recovered in the car park of Homebase, Fiveways, Croydon, after the owner received a phone call from Homebase staff at 8.30am, who found him hiding in the bushes.

The dog was first spotted on April 11, but Homebase staff were unable to catch him until the next morning.

Colin Harding said: “It was a stroke of luck he was found.”

During Harley’s absence, Mr Harding took to the streets to hand out leaflets and put posters up of the missing dog.

Mr Harding said: "I did get lots of support from neighbours and the community.

"People were scouring the roads for hours.

"Yesterday, we were still traumatised with it all, I’m still angry these people committed a crime."

Upon reuniting with his dog, Mr Harding said: “I couldn’t ask for a better caring animal, he wouldn’t hurt a fly. We’re so so relieved, emotion just took over us. It’s a happy ending really.”

The dog has been checked out at the vets and been given some tablets to help keep him calm.

Mr Harding said: “I’m so thrilled and excited to have Harley back.

“It’s definitely going to be a day of treats.”

Detectives from Sutton’s burglary and robbery investigation team are continuing their enquiries.

Mr Harding thanked staff at Homebase Croydon for helping in the safe recovery and return of Harley to his family.

Source: http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/local/suttonnews/9658128.Lost_and_found_hound_reunited_with_owner/

Millie, therapy dog

Girl reunited with stolen Pitbull therapy dog
Harding Calkins Media Inc
Tue Apr 17, 2012


We’re not sure what’s going on in Kansas these days, but the state seems to be chock full of pet stories. Atop yesterday's pup-and-piglet become best friends tale, a 5-year-old girl in Kansas woke up this past Thursday to a wonderful surprise.

Andrea Taylor, who suffers from Cerebral Palsy and is legally blind, was devastated when her cherished therapy dog Millie went missing. Apparently, a white car pulled up to the front of the Taylor home and stole the pup, who had been Andrea’s therapy dog and companion since early March.

Andrea’s mother Lana told the Hutchinson, KS news that her daughter became distraught over the disappearance of her pet, which had been missing for two weeks.

Thankfully, according to Lana Taylor, the combined efforts of the media and the sheriff’s department wore down the mysterious dognappers. Right before 4 a.m. on Thursday, April 12, the Taylors heard noises coming from the front porch. Millie had been returned.

The dog ran right into Andrea’s room and dutifully waited for her to wake up. Lana Taylor posits that the dog was kidnapped for dogfighting purposes, as it had been returned visibly shaken. Thankfully, aside from a few surface scratches and bruises, the pup is doing fine and is happy to be reunited with Andrea.

While the perpetrators of the dognapping are still unknown, the Taylors, especially Andrea, are simply elated to have Millie back in their home.

Source: http://www.phillyburbs.com/lifestyle/pets/girl-reunited-with-stolen-pitbull-therapy-dog/article_6da8eb5c-88a9-11e1-a90a-0019bb30f31a.html

Bleu Bell, great dane

Dog’s incredible journey goes full circle
With Western New Yorkers’ help, Bleu Bell soon will reunite with owner in Louisiana
By Janice L Habuda, News Staff Reporter
April 14, 2012, 6:31 AM

If dogs could talk, Lucy would have some ’splainin’ to do.

The 116-pound Blue Great Dane, surrendered March 29 to the SPCA Serving Erie County, had been reported missing in Louisiana four years ago.

According to SPCA spokeswoman Gina Browning, the woman who surrendered the dog at the Town of Tonawanda facility said her family recently moved here from Louisiana. They reportedly adopted Lucy from a Mississippi-based Great Dane organization two years ago and paid $1,600 to have her shipped here, only to learn their landlord doesn’t allow dogs.

Browning said the woman, who asked that her name be withheld, said the dog’s name is Lucy and she’s five years old.

But after a microchip found in the dog’s neck was scanned, different information emerged.

The microchip company said the dog, along with a second Great Dane, had been reported missing in June 2008, according to Browning. The SPCA was given a contact number for Lucy’s owner, Ben Gautreaux, who lives in a suburb of Baton Rouge, La.

“First, he thought it was a prank,” when the SPCA reached him, Browning said. “Now, four years later he’s shocked and said he wants the dog back but doesn’t have the means.”

The dog’s name is actually Bleu Bell, and she was born in May 2005. She was six weeks old when she was a birthday gift to Gautreaux, he said during a brief phone interview Friday.

Bleu Bell disappeared while Gautreaux was out of town for two weeks

in 2008, he explained. A wire had been cut on a fence.

“All my Great Danes got out. The other ones all came back,” said Gautreaux, a small-time breeder who recently advertised puppies for sale online.

When Gautreaux returned home he went to the local animal shelter to reclaim Bleu Bell. But the five-day holding period had expired, after which the facility has the options of adoption or euthanization.

Gautreaux said he was told: “We had to put her down.”

Upon learning his dog was in New York, “I freaked out. It was a wonderful call,” he said.

The dog is under foster care at a private home in Erie County.

Many questions about Bleu Bell’s life remain unanswered.

“You wonder what could have happened,” Browning said. “Was [the report of her being euthanized] an honest mistake? Did somebody have his eye on the dog?”

“We don’t know who’s telling us the truth,” Browning said.

After contacting Gautreaux, the SPCA checked out his background before exploring options for getting Bleu Bell back to Louisiana.

A ride home has been secured. “I’m excited,” Gautreaux said.

Browning said she talked about the dog’s plight on a local radio talk show Thursday.

“Within minutes of doing the radio interview, I had four strong leads,” Browning said.

Among them was Chris Silverstein, a local restaurateur who drives to Louisiana a few times a year to obtain frozen alligator. He’s driving Bleu Bell home.

“I always drive down, and I usually bring my dog, who’s a large dog, as well,” Silverstein said.

Ozark, his 6-year-old Australian shepherd, will sit out this trip. Silverstein, a friend and Bleu Bell will make the 20-hour drive in Silverstein’s SUV in mid-May.

“I just think it’s a really neat story,” said Silverstein, a former New Orleans resident who admits he’s a sucker for dog stories — especially those in which a dog finds its way home.

Browning said Silverstein’s generosity is the story of this area.

“Only in Buffalo would this happen,” Browning said.

Source: http://www.buffalonews.com/city/communities/tonawanda/article810354.ece

Smokey, blue heeler

Man reunited with lost 'hospice dog'
Tom Sharpe, The New Mexican
Posted: Friday, April 13, 2012



Man reunited with lost 'hospice dog'

Chief Mike got Smokey, "the hospice dog," back.

Mike Martinez's students had given him the blue heeler puppy in late January when he retired from teaching martial arts due to health issues that have caused damage to his intestines, kidneys, liver and heart.

"My life here is finite," he said as he hugged 4-month-old Smokey. "They've already told me I have a definite time and I got him just to make that time longer. I just need him to make me last longer. I'm not done with what I have to do here."

Martinez, 65, is known as "Chief Mike" for his former chain saw repair shops on Second Street and Sawmill Road. He has taught at the New Mexico Tae Kwon Do Institute, coached Little League and volunteered for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northern New Mexico.

Late Wednesday morning, Martinez drove from his home south of Santa Fe off N.M. 14 to Industrial Road, off Siler Road, in his 1983 Mercedes that, he says, has more than 1 million miles on it.

Martinez said he thought he left all five of his dogs in the car when he went inside a shop to talk to a friend, but when he returned, there were only four. He figured Smokey, the smallest, had squeezed through a partly opened window, so he went up and down the street, over fences and into arroyos, screaming "Smokey." Finally, he gave up, drove home and told his wife, Wendy, that Smokey was lost.

On Thursday morning, he came to The New Mexican to place a lost-dog ad in the paper, checked the animal shelter and made 200 lost-hospice-dog flyers. He said he twisted his ankle putting up flyers and was getting discouraged that he would ever find Smokey, but when he came home that evening, "there he was at the gate."

As it turned out, Smokey had been found at the Dusty Dog Ranch, about a mile from Martinez's home in the San Marcos area. Mary Kirst, owner of the "free-roam" dog-boarding place, said an employee noticed the puppy at the gate around 1 p.m. Wednesday.

"When I came back, I let him in and kept him overnight and called the Humane Society," Kirst said. "They said, 'Well, we have a [report of a lost] dog matching that description, but he was lost in town.' ...

"He may have just jumped out of the car and [Martinez] didn't notice it. There are dogs across the road from me that his dogs bark at. ... Dogs come to my gate all the time. They're attracted to the fact that there are other dogs here."

Martinez said he's just glad to have Smokey back.

"Yesterday, I was lost," he said Friday, breaking into tears. "I have to make him make me last 15 more years, at least. That's why he's so important to me. I had my whole life set on him."

Source: http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/Man-reunited-with-lost--hospice-dog-

Sukey

Family gets Sukey back
by Chris Walker
10 Apr 2012

The Hodgetts family have been reunited with their missing dog Sukey despite enduring hoax phone calls asking for money before the pet was eventually found.

The Hodgetts family; Bryce, 8, Dad Jason holding Sukey , Seth, 3, Ruby, 1, and Mum Jodie. After more than a month, missing Sukey was found a fortnight ago in Georges Hall.

The phone calls started after the family started posting flyers in surrounding streets, advertising in newspapers and on websites and doorknocking to find Sukey.

Eventually their efforts were rewarded when a woman living nearby heard a small growl in her garage and found Sukey and reunited the pet with her owners.

Despite receiving a flood of support and concern from most of the community, mum Jodie said she also received “hoax, perverted and extortion calls” regarding Sukey on a daily basis.

“I’d get some calls that would make you sick ... some saying if we didn’t pay they’d send us Sukey’s bones,” Mrs Hodgetts said.

She said her children were banned from answering the phone.

Bankstown LAC duty officer Al Spence said it was the first time he had ever heard of such an innocent intention being exploited so cruelly.

He said any instance of phone harassment should be reported to police and offenders could be prosecuted and face heavy fines.

Source: http://express.whereilive.com.au/news/story/family-gets-sukey-back/

Sky, dachshund-mix

Sky's Ride: Family reunited with dog missing since March 2 twister
By Kelly Kazek, The News Courier
Fri Mar 30, 2012

— When Flo Doughty arrived at her badly damaged home moments after a tornado passed on March 2 and saw a broken pet crate and a dog collar lying in the rubble, her heart lurched.

Caleb Doughty, 9, cuddles with his dog Sky on Tuesday when she was found after she’d been missing 25 days. Sky’s crate was smashed when the Doughty’s Canebrake home was struck by a March 2 tornado and Sky was either carried away by the storm or ran in panic.

The Doughty family’s two dogs, Ethel and Sky, who had been in the home on Royal St. George Street when Flo, her husband Shawn and their son Caleb left that morning, were nowhere in sight.

A dog door allowed the pets to go to the backyard, but that morning, Sky had been left in her crate inside the home. The heavy plastic crate was smashed and the fence had been blown from the backyard.

Within minutes, the panicked family realized Ethel was safe when they saw a neighbor carrying the terrified dog, which the family had rescued after she once raced at the Birmingham dog track.

But where was Sky?

“Dad had a bad feeling and I had a bad feeling,” Caleb said.

The 6-year-old dachshund-mix with one brown eye and one blue one had been adopted from the shelter Peace, Love & Animals.

“She’s my sister,” Caleb said. The 9-year-old home-schooled student considers the pets his siblings and said the two dogs groom one another.

The family, as well as volunteers from Canebrake subdivision, immediately began searching the neighborhood and nearby woods.

They posted signs and placed notices on the Facebook page of the Canebrake Club.

Everyone wanted to help reunite the family with its pet. Someone with Animal Control donated humane traps, which capture a pet without harming it, and construction workers who were repairing damaged homes in the area set out dog treats in hopes of luring Sky.

Flo would receive calls of “Sky sightings,” with the farthest about a mile from the home. After a sighting at Hole 5 on the golf course, several men in golf carts met Flo to aid in a search. “They said, ‘We came to help you find your dog,’” Flo said. “The community was so nice.”

Then, she heard Sky was seen on a nearby street and set a trap in the garage of a home on the street behind her home.

The next morning, 25 days after the tornadoes, construction workers found Sky, tail wagging, inside the crate.

The family drove over from the apartment in Madison where they are living until their home is repaired.

“We were just astonished,” Caleb said.

Flo said, “We let Sky sleep with us that first night and she snored all night. She was so tired from her adventure.”

Although Ethel has suffered effects of a “nervous colon” since the storm, she and Sky, happy to be together again, began grooming each other.

“I prayed and prayed, hoping the persistence would pay off,” Flo said, citing the Biblical parable of the persistent widow.

Source: http://enewscourier.com/x1437243190/Skys-Ride-Family-reunited-with-dog-missing-since-March-2-twister

Amber, alsatian

Latchingdon: Owners reunited with stolen dog
By Nina Morgan, Senior reporter
Thursday 29th March 2012

Mr Winfield of Latchingdon, said: “When Amber was taken, it was like losing a child." A relieved couple have spoken of their joy after being reunited with their stolen dog.

Sheila and Michael Winfield’s 15-month-old alsatian Amber is one of at least three dogs known to have been stolen in recent weeks.

Her theft has since prompted police to urge pet owners to have their four-legged friends microchipped.

Luckily for the Winfield’s their beloved pet was recovered 15 miles away tied up at a travellers site in Basildon after having been taken from a pen in their garden on Friday.

Source: http://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/local/maldon/9615409.Latchingdon__Owners_reunited_with_stolen_dog/

Stephen, bassett hound

Lost dog microchipped in Japan reunited with owner
Janet Rose Jackman, TucsonSentinel.com
Updated Apr 3, 2012, 10:09 am

A 4-year-old Beagle found last week with a microchip registered in Japan has been reunited with his owner.

Joseph Stremlau was reunited with his 4-year-old beagle, Stephen, on Monday. Stremlau got the dog while stationed at an air base in Japan.

Joseph Stremlau, of Phoenix, arrived at the Humane Society of Southern Arizona on Monday afternoon to claim the companion he got in Japan while stationed at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, said HSSA spokeswoman Lyndsay Bruno.

Stephen was taken to HSSA's shelter last week by someone who found him wandering near Speedway and Dodge.

A scan of Stephen's microchip revealed it was implanted at the Okinawa Veterinary Treatment Facility in Okinawa, Japan. The most recent information in the chip showed it was registered to Stremlau at the base in 2010, Bruno said.

HSSA staff had searched the Internet and contacted Davis Monthan Air Force Base, but had had no luck finding Stremlau, Bruno said Friday.

Stremlau was found after the dog's story was reported by local media, Bruno said Monday.

“When friends and family said they saw him on the news, I couldn’t believe it. I went to great lengths to bring him back from Japan, many people don’t do that," the National Guardsman and ASU student said in a press release.

Stephen wandered off while staying with the Stremlau's brother when he was on vacation.

"It's a good lesson about keeping microchip information up to date," Bruno said.

Stephen had surgery early Monday to replace an old surgical pin in his hind leg and is doing well, she said.

Now that they're together again, Stremlau said he and Stephen were going to relax.

"I think we will go home and watch Netflix all day," he said.

Source: http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/040312_hssa_dog_japan/lost-dog-microchipped-japan-reunited-with-owner/

Gizmo, shih tzu

Gizmo the Shih Tzu Reunited with Long Beach Couple
Wednesday, 28 March 2012

We just reunited this sweet dog (pictured in the attachments) with a very nice Long Beach couple (Tuesday afternoon, March 27, 2012) ... dog had been missing for four months ...

It got out of their Long Beach home ... Never to be found again until today ... The couple suspect that someone ignored missing-pet fliers in the neighborhood because Gizmo was too cute ....

The couple, Gloria and Rodolfo Alvarez, were truly overwhelmed with joy when we called them earlier this morning.

Dog's name: Gizmo ... Breed: Shih Tzu ... He is about 8 years old.

He was brought to our Western Riverside County/City Animal Shelter in Jurupa Valley today by a man who said he got it from a firend of a friend ... Man said it was a "stray" ... but called the dog "Benji" ... Dog had a microchip and that's how we tracked down true owners ... We called Mr. and Mrs. Alvarez of Long Beach and the couple immediately headed east on Highway 91 ....

The dog is pictured with a tearful Gloria Alvarez ... Sweet little guy!

"Every day we would drive around our neighborhood looking for him," Gloria Alvarez said. "We put up fliers. We put his picture all over the Internet and everything. We figured we would never see him again."

Even though it had been more than four months since Gizmo went missing, she said she still held out some hope, all because she said she knew that the family pet was microchipped. "With that chip, we got our dog back," Gloria Alvarez said.

Pictures are by John Welsh, Riverside County Animal Services

Source:
http://www.rcdas.org/home/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=395:gizmo-the-shih-tzu-reunited-with-long-beach-couple&catid=8:news-releases&Itemid=42