Cleo the Cockapoo (a cocker spaniel and poodle mix) is home with her human. Luisa, her human, reported Cleo as a missing dog 10 years ago.
10 years ago. Can you imagine losing your pet dog and it being returned to you 10 years late? Luisa never gave up hope and that decision seems to be the crucial factor in this story. Never give up hope.
Fortunately, Cleo has a microchip. Luisa the ever-hopeful dog owner regularly updated the information on the microchip. Luisa is credited for reuniting with her dog due to her updates to the microchip. This story demonstrates the importance of keeping a pet’s microchip up to date.
The Humane Society of Tampa Bay posted on its Instagram page on Wednesday the photos of the emotional reunion. Luisa used to live in Tampa Bay but moved to Miami while Cleo was missing.
The HSTB said the dog recently arrived at the shelter as a stray. When the dog came in, staff at the rescue scanned Cleo for a microchip and found one loaded with contact information. The information led to Cleo’s owner, Luisa, who “was in disbelief when we called because Cleo (as we learned was her name) had run away TEN YEARS AGO!” the HSTB shared.
The shelter continued: “They never lost hope and continued to update her microchip in the small hope that they would be reunited, even after they moved to Miami!”
That’s wild. And wonderful.
On Saturday, Luisa made the five-hour drive from her new Miami home to Tampa Bat to pick up Cleo.
“We were hoping for a happy ending and for her to be reunited with her owners but we did not foresee the joy that her story brought!” the HSTB’s Instagram post added.
“This shows the power and importance of the microchip and never losing hope,” the caption concluded.
Cleo is fourteen years old now.
Dog Owner Who ‘Never Lost Hope’ Reunites with Missing Pup 10 Years After Pet’s Disappearance https://t.co/Eokm2Ykinl
— People (@people) March 8, 2024
The article doesn’t fill in many details. It says that Cleo came to the Humane Shelter in Tampa Bay as a stray. Her microchip was scanned and the rest is history. How did Cleo survive for ten years, though? Did someone take her in and then ten years later abandon her?
The news that a good Samaritan found the dog left the family, which had since moved from the Tampa area to Miami, in disbelief. The shelter was stunned, too.
“We were surprised just because that is such a crazy amount of time,” Regan Blessinger, marketing and content manager, told McClatchy News in a phone interview. “We’ve had it where there’s been a couple of years but 10 years is magnificent.”
So, what was Cleo doing all that time? While the shelter said it can’t know for sure, the dog wasn’t found in rough shape. The facility believes she may have spent time with another family, though no one else claimed her from the shelter.
Cleo has not had it easy but it’s a happy ending.
“We couldn’t be happier for them,” the shelter wrote in its post, which some Facebook users said left them crying tears of joy. “This shows the power and importance of the microchip and never losing hope.”
Let’s hope Cleo stays with her original human family and doesn’t seek any more adventures.
Read the full article here