Dutchess the dog booted out of her Florida home back in 2007, but the fox terrier was just reunited with her owner, 12 years after disappearing.
How Dutchess ended up 1,000-plus miles away from Florida in Pittsburgh is unknown. The long-lost fox terrier is now 14-years-old.
The happy reunion took place Friday afternoon at Humane Animal Rescue in Pittsburgh.
“I’m just so happy to have her back. I cried so many nights without her,” said Dutchess’s owner, Katheryn Strang. “I was at work, and my son, who was 12-years-old accidentally opened the door in the afternoon after school one day and we never saw her again.”
Watch the reunion here:
Strang said she never really gave up hope.
“They’re like you’re babies,” Strang explained.
Dutchess was found Oct. 8 in Carnegie, Pennsylvania. The dog was hiding under a shed, hungry and shivering.
On Oct. 11, Strang drove all the way from her new home in Boca Raton, Florida to Pittsburgh for a reunion like no other.
“The last hour was gut wrenching,” she said while cradling Dutchess at the Humane Animal Rescue office. “My stomach was churning with anxiety. I didn’t know how I was going to react either, or how she was was going to react. She looks older. She has a white face.”
And it goes to show, it’s worth microchipping your pet.
Photos Humane Animal Rescue/Facebook
