Mimi/Gizmo, shih tzu

Missing Dog Found Seven Years After Lost
July 7, 2011

A dog that went missing seven years ago in Arkansas is set to be reunited with her original owner after living under a pseudonym for all that time with another family in the same town.

Bud Norman, Rogers Animal Shelter manager, holds Mimi, a Shih Tzu, on Tuesday in Rogers. Mimi has been missing from its owner for the past seven years. The dog was picked up by an animal control officer Saturday and identified by an implanted microchip containing the owner’s address and phone number.

Andrew Navarette told animal control officers that he let his Shih Tzu, Mimi, out in the backyard of his Rogers home seven years ago but that when he went to retrieve her she had disappeared, the Rogers Morning News reported today (NZ time). Navarette was unable to track Mimi down, even though she had a microchip implanted in her neck containing his contact information.

It is not clear what happened to Mimi that day, but some time later, Kim Rafter of Rogers acquired the animal from someone in good faith, renamed her Gizmo, and has cared for her ever since, KHOG-TV reported.

Meanwhile, Navarette relocated to Woodlake, California.

On Saturday, Mimi showed up at an animal shelter in Rogers where officials found the chip and called Navarette, who had kept the same cell phone number through the years. Rafter did not explain to KHOG how she lost the pooch at the weekend.

"As far as I know, it was just running loose," the shelter's manager, Bud Norman, told The Associated Press. "It was picked up and brought into the shelter."

Assistant shelter manager Matt Colston said Navarette was clearly excited that Mimi had been found and immediately said he would pay for the Shih Tzu to be shipped to his home in California.

Norman said Mimi is in good health and has been well-cared for. He said Rafter called the shelter after losing the dog, and that was how she found out that Mimi has another owner.

Rafter said it will be difficult to say goodbye to the animal her family has known as Gizmo for the past seven years.

"We've loved Gizmo for all of those years and taken care of her," Rafter said. "She's a part of our family and it would be devastating for us to lose her."

Rafter said she had no idea that the dog's real owner had been looking for her. "They told me she had been a gift to this man's wife from her dad and then he passed away," Rafter said.

"I'm a sympathetic person and I wouldn't want to take anybody's dog away, but I'm sure that, as little as she was when we got her, I'm sure we're the only ones she's bonded with."

Norman called the dog's saga "bittersweet" because while one family is thrilled, another is sad.

"It just amazes me when this happens," he said. "I'm hoping people understand the power of a microchip, if they love their animals."

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/5254728/Missing-dog-found-after-seven-years

Another version of the story:

Dog Soon Reunited With Original Owners After Missing For Seven Years
4029TV.com
POSTED: 9:55 pm CDT July 6, 2011

ROGERS, Ark. -- Rogers resident Kim Rafter is coming to grips with having to give her dog of seven years back to its original owner.

"We've loved Gizmo for all of those years and taken care of her. She's a part of our family and it would be devastating for us to lose her," said Rafter.

Gizmo is a little shitzu who's in the center of a custody battle that stretches clear across the country. It began seven years ago when Rafter was in school.

"A friend of mine knew that we were looking around for a dog and she said that she knew of someone that have been given a little dog," said Rafter.

Rafter didn't know the dog already had an owner until last Saturday, seven years later, when she lost the dog herself.

Bud Norman with the Rogers Animal Shelter told 4029 News a microchip helped them find the original owner.

"He said he left the dog out in the back yard to do his potty jobs and went back out to get the animal, and it wasn't there. They searched the neighborhood, but didn't find the animal, then he moved to California," said Norman.

Norman had to tell Rafter that the man wanted his dog back.

"They told me she had been a gift to this man's wife from her dad and then he passed away," said Rafter.

"I'm a sympethic person and I wouldn't want to take anybody's dog away, but I'm sure that, as little as she was when we got her, I'm sure we're the only ones she's every bonded with," said Rafter.

That bond will have to live on in Gizmo's heart as she will soon be shipped to California to her original owners.

Norman said there's a lesson to be learned from this.

"That's the power of microchip, microchips is a wonderful tool. Keep the information updated," said Norman.

Videos of this story at: http://www.4029tv.com/r/28468670/detail.html and at http://www.onenewspage.us/video/20110707/490992/Dog-Finds-Original-Owners.htm

Souce: http://www.4029tv.com/r/28468670/detail.html
Printer-friendly version here

Pollux, black lab

Missing dog found a year after disappearance
By Brian Daly, QMI Agency
July 5, 2011

A female black Labrador mix named Pollux is scheduled to be reunited with its family in Montreal later this week after it turned up 4,000 kilometres away in Kamloops, BC, more than a year after it went missing.

MONTREAL - It seems the dog will come back, though they sure thought it was a goner.

A female black Labrador mix named Pollux is scheduled to be reunited with its family in Montreal later this week after it turned up 4,000 kilometres away in Kamloops, BC, more than a year after it went missing.

Pollux was tracked down thanks to an implanted microchip that revealed Quebecer Isabelle Robitaille as the owner.

She was shocked to have received a call from the SPCA last Friday.

"We were told that this chip under the skin could be used if ever the animal disappeared," Robitaille told QMI Agency.

"No one ever thought it would come to good use like that."

The story began on June 20, 2010, when Pollux escaped from Robitaille's home in east-end Montreal and vanished. Robitaille said she can't understand why Pollux ran away.

"I left the door open, and she just disappeared," she said. "This is a very active dog. She might have been tempted to take refuge in a train wagon and found herself later at the other end of Canada."

The details of Pollux's journey are still not clear.

Sarah Gerow, acting branch manager at the Kamloops SPCA, said someone came by the office last Friday to drop off a stray black Labrador mix. The SPCA staff nicknamed her Suki.

"She came in as a stray and the finder had cared for her for a little while," Gerow told QMI Agency on Tuesday. "We scanned her for a microchip, which we traced to a vet clinic in Quebec which put them in touch with the dog's owner."

Recent photos of Suki were sent to Robitaille who immediately recognized the animal as Pollux, though the dog had lost quite a bit of weight.

The owner was quickly confronted with another problem -- she didn't have enough money to pay for a flight home.

That's when New-York based SPCA International came to Pollux's rescue, said Gerow.

"They are willing to provide the funding to fly Pollux home, she said. "Probably later on this week. We're just waiting for flight details."

Meanwhile, Pollux is soaking in all the attention while letting the humans figure out the mystery of its 4,000-km, 12-month trek.

"I guess only the dog knows," said Gerow.

Source: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Good_News/2011/07/05/18379201.html?cid=rssnews
Printer-friendly version here
Another version of the story at: http://www.metronews.ca/halifax/canada/article/909592--quebec-dog-safe-after-4500-km-journey--page0

Peanut, chihuahua

Missing therapy dog found
By Judy Masterson
July 4, 2011 8:12PM

Peanut

An Antioch woman has been charged with the theft of a Round Lake Beach family’s pet chihuahua.

Betty Peltier, 60, of Antioch was arrested by Round Lake Beach Police on July 2 after she attempted to return three-year-old Peanut to his family, according to Monica Hidalgo, the dog’s owner.

Hidalgo, who had offered a $1,000 reward for the dog that went missing on June 21, said she received several calls from Peltier last week inquiring about the reward.

“She said she had the dog, but kept asking ‘Are you sure you have the money?’” Hidalgo, said.

The family was unaware that the two-pound Peanut had slipped out of the house while a son was bringing in groceries, Hidalgo said. But the police, who could not be reached for comment on Monday, had some good leads. In addition to the phone calls, a neighbor had seen a woman in a vehicle stop and scoop up Peanut from the 1800 block of North Nicole Lane.

Peanut’s disappearance drew public interest because he was a therapy dog for Hidalgo’s severely autistic son, Mariano Paredas, 9, who stopped eating after the pet’s disappearance.

A Glendale Heights man, who learned of the family’s loss, paid for a new dog, another chihuahua, Oliver, who arrived recently from Oklahoma.

Hidalgo, who said she had planned to use her mortgage money for the reward, will keep both dogs. She said Peanut has been skittish since his return, has growled at family members, and is ignoring overtures from Oliver.

“I’m so happy and so relieved he’s back,” Hidalgo said. “Life just wasn’t normal while Peanut was gone.”

Source: http://newssun.suntimes.com/news/6342604-418/missing-therapy-dog-found.html

Reese

After five weeks, 1,425 East Atlanta Patch readers spreading the word on Facebook and sending good vibes and well wishes for her safe return, Reese, the missing Edgewood pooch, is back with her Mom.

Reese's owner, Whitney X. Teufel, wrote a letter to the East Atlanta Patch community asking for help in finding her dog after a May 20 home invasion of her La France Street house.

Reese, who is shy, escaped in the commotion and had been missing since.

Teufel just e-mailed us the good news that the two were reunited Thursday afternoon.

"I just found her this afternoon!!!!!! 5 weeks!"

Teufel explains the reuinion:

"Reese has been spotted all around town throughout Kirkwood to the East Lake Golf Club.

Reese escaped Friday, May 20, following a home invasion of a LaFrance Street home in Edgewood

On Friday afternoon, two girls who had read the story — Rebecca and Alicia — saw her in Pullman Yard. I started to leave food in there, but received a call that she had moved onto Kirkwood again. The Kirkwood neighborhood association lent me a trap, that I set up in Pullman Yard on Monday.

I worked from home today because I was having my back door replaced from the break-in.

Around 4 pm, I went over to put food in the trap — it looked like it might rain later — she was standing outside of the trap — trying to get the food without going in! I called her name and she came to me. I carried her out — didn’t have a leash on me.

She is very skinny, very dirty, has several wounds on her back that are healing — looks like she may have been hit by a car and rolled — but she is OK.

I am so grateful for everyone who sent well wishes.

Xxoo

W."

Missing Dog Returns Home After a Month: MyFoxATLANTA.com

Source: http://eastatlanta.patch.com/articles/i-just-found-her-this-afternoon#photo-6222328