When Dutchess went missing in 2007 from her home in Boca Raton, Florida, her family was devastated. At the time, she was a young, two-year-old pup. Her family was desperate to find her – they searched everywhere and put up missing dog fliers in the hope of locating her.
The owner’s son had accidentally left the door open, giving the young dog a chance to escape. The family thought that she would wander back home, but sadly, as the days turned into weeks which became months, it became more and more apparent in time that her owner, Kathryn Strang, would never see her beloved fox terrier again.
Eventually, Strang had to let go of the idea of finding Dutchess, but while she moved on with her life, she never ever forgot her beloved dog.
Then, 12 years later, she was in for the surprise of a lifetime when she received a very unexpected phone call.
Over a thousand miles away, in Pennsylvania, Dutchess had been found and brought into a shelter. Someone had found her taking shelter beneath a shed in Carnegie, and they decided to bring her into the Humane Animal Rescue in Pittsburgh. There, they scanned her for a microchip, and that led back to Strang. At that point, Dutchess had become a 14-year-old dog.
But thankfully, she wasn’t too old to reunite with Strang. As you can imagine, Strang was absolutely blown away when she learned about Dutchess. Strang happily drove the 18 hours to get to the shelter, eager to see Dutchess again.
“I can’t believe you’re calling me right now, I can’t believe this is happening,” had said when she received the phone call.
It is still not known exactly how Dutchess got to Pennsylvania, nor how she managed to survive for such a long time.
When the beautiful moment finally arrived for them to be reunited, Strang could not contain her emotions, and she was beside herself with tears.
As she shared with CBS News, “I’m just so happy to have her back, I’ve cried so many times. I was at work and my son was 12-years-old, he opened the door in the afternoon, after school one day, and I never saw her again.”
Watch the touching video below:
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