By James Eng, MSN News
January 14, 2013
A 115-pound mastiff named Endo is getting a ride from Wisconsin back to Florida, where he bolted from his owners in 2011.
Doggonit, Endo, what have you been up to for the past two years?
His owners aren’t quite sure where he's been, but they’re happy to be finally getting him back after practically giving him up for dead.
The 115-pound mastiff, who disappeared nearly two years ago when he bolted from the fenced yard of his Florida home, has turned up 1,800 miles away in Wisconsin, where an animal shelter was able to identify him via his microchip.
Endo will be driven back to Cape Coral, Fla., this week to be reunited with his owners, Denise and Tom Hartzog.
The Hartzogs were very excited to hear that Endo was still alive, according to the staff at Animal Allies Humane Society in Superior, Wis.
“We are so happy that Animal Allies called,” Denise Hartzog was quoted as saying in a press release issued by the animal shelter. “He’s such a cool dog. We are very excited to see him again.”
John Gustafson, director of development and communications for Animal Allies in Duluth, Minn., said shelter staff have since been sorting out details of what Endo has been up to for the past 20 months.
The Hartzogs got Endo in December 2010 after responding to an ad for a free dog. Endo lived with the family for about five months before he and their other dog, a yellow Labrador, broke out of the fenced yard and ran off.
The Hartzogs searched in vain, and all but gave up hope after a neighbor told them he had seen the Lab get attacked by an alligator in a canal. They assumed a similar, sinister fate had befallen Endo.
“A lot of people lose their dogs to gators in the canals here,” Denise Hartzog told the Duluth News Tribune.
Gustafson said a Minnesota man who was visiting Florida saw the big brown dog dodging traffic near a Florida gas station-truck stop shortly after it had escaped from the Hartzogs’ home.
After trying without success to find the owner, the man, assuming the animal was abandoned, took the dog back with him to Minnesota in May 2011, Gustafson said.
The man had been caring for Endo until last fall, when his living situation required for him to find a new home. He gave the dog to a friend.
“That person also struggled to have the dog in their setting so they rehomed it to a farm in Superior, Wis.,” Gusfafson said. “The dog went to the farm but promptly escaped from there. Someone found him and brought him to our shelter in Superior at the end of the year.”
The Neapolitan mastiff had electronic identification in the form of a microchip, which allowed the shelter to identify him and his Florida owners.
Staff at Animal Allies will throw a farewell party for Endo on Wednesday morning before he departs for Florida.
A volunteer at Lost Dogs of Minnesota has arranged for Endo to be delivered right to the Hartzogs’ home. Someone who was already driving to the Fort Meyers-Naples, Fla., region has offered to bring the dog along.
“We’ll put together a little package for him -- some goodies, maybe some souvenirs from Duluth-Superior, to take back to Florida,” Gustafson said.
“He’s had a lot of excitement and a lot of reporters out at the shelter, so he knows something’s up.”
Endo should arrive home sometime on Saturday.
Source: http://news.msn.com/us/lost-dog-to-be-reunited-with-family-after-nearly-2-years-and-1800-miles-apart
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