A family was recently reunited with their missing dog, who vanished from their backyard eight years ago.
The dog was found in poor condition in San Carlos Park over the weekend. His family, who moved to Missouri, never thought they would see Harley again, forgetting that he was microchipped.
Harley left the family house in Lee County in 2014 when he was a few years old. “I turned them out to go to the bathroom,” Betsy DeHaan said. “Turned my back for a second and they went off into the woods. And we went looking and never found Harley.”
“We searched and cruised and looked and put up posters and sent out the wanted, missing pet and just never stopped looking for him,” DeHaan said. She added, “I just want to tell him I’m so sorry that I didn’t find him,” said Betsy DeHaan.
Harley was never checked for the microchip by whoever had taken him in, and the search didn’t yield any results for the DeHaans. But it was the microchip that finally united them.
Angie Bray helped them reunite. “I didn’t realize how bad it was until I actually got the dog,” said Angie Bray. “The dog was so sweet, super well-behaved. Seemed as happy as can be aside from being really skinny. He had some really overgrown nails,” Bray said.
She and a friend had found a dog that resembled Harley; he was walking around Barto Boulevard in San Carlos Park. “It made me cry. It was just so heartbreaking to think about being torn away from one of my animals who I just love and then being able to find them.”
Harley was taken to Cypress Lake Animal Hospital and Lee County Domestic Animal Services by Bray, and then through the microchip, they were able to locate his owner, DeHaan.
“We got the text on Saturday. And I’m like, is this a scam? Because we were talking about him that morning. You know, what an amazing dog and where could Harley be, is he still out there? And I got the text. And you know, you think Google always picks up on your advertisement? I’m like, this is a scam,” DeHaan said. “This is not real.”
DeHaan drove 1,100 miles from Missouri to Lee County to reunite with her beloved dog. DeHaan said Harley was a lot frailer than he was before. But now, he will be looked after very well and will never go hungry again.
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