A family was reunited with their missing dog on Sunday, after he spent seven months roaming 80 miles from Pennsylvania to New York’s mid-Hudson Valley.
New York State Troopers attempted to capture the dog, but he was too quick to catch. Asher spotted fresh tracks on Friday, and walked over a mile in the snow until she came upon a farm — where Teddy was hiding in a big open barn.
According to the owner of the farm, Teddy had been there for two days but wouldn’t let anyone get close.
What would work to bring Teddy to safety? A trap with rotisserie chicken inside.
GoFundMe
The injured dog had a severe limp and was skin and bones. After being taken to the Catskill Animal Hospital, Tegze said everyone was shocked to learn something else: Teddy had a microchip.
“We immediately scanned him, and we were all stunned when it beeped,” said Asher. “We were like ‘Oh my god, we thought he had been dumped.’”
Teddy was first rescued from a kill shelter in California, where he was scheduled to be euthanized. His soon-to-be new family saw him on an Instagram post last May and adopted him without meeting him in person. The husband flew to California to retrieve Teddy and then drove to Washington, D.C., where they live.
GoFundMe
Teddy was with his new family for less than a month before he ran away through a hole in the fence during a family vacation in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, on June 19.
“We were able to locate the owner and she was beside herself,” said Asher. “She was crying and screaming, she couldn’t believe it was true … they never thought he would be able to survive, so when the call came in, she was in an absolute state of shock.”
A happy ending doesn’t always happen, underscoring the importance of microchips.
“Sometimes we get very lucky that there are microchips, and we are able to find the owner,” said Tegze. “A lot of times we’re not … Teddy traveled over 80 miles. If he was not microchipped, we would not have had a reunion like there was, because no one would have known to look [for] a family in Washington, D.C. when you’re in New York.”
GoFundMe
Tegze also stressed the importance of keeping microchip information up to date, as they have had a number of instances in which a found dog was microchipped, but it was connected to a number that was no longer in service.
Teddy’s owner, Salvatore Della Monica, has launched A GoFundMe campaign to further support Teddy, who is suffering from a range of health issues from his time away, including severe bilateral hip dysplasia, bullet fragments in his hind limb, a fractured sacrum, tick-borne illnesses and a fractured right maxillary canine.