Desperately looking for a beloved dog who has gone missing for a long time is quite devastating. Family members try to locate them day and night, for weeks, perhaps even months. Frustration grows each day they are not found. The painful truth is that some owners tend to give up the search when others do not easily give up searching, even for years.
In 2016, a man’s nightmare emerged when his 3 beloved dogs ran off and went missing. 2 of his dogs returned. However, Sam, a 4-month-old Lab mix, was not with them and was still missing. Army Veteran, Michael Joy, from Tennessee searched every local shelter, but to no avail.
“‘Hey, I’m going to find this puppy,’ I told my wife,” Michael remarked. “I continued to follow the shelters’ website just in case he had appeared. I never stopped.”
Eventually, Michael and his family ultimately relocated to Kentucky. He hoped that Sam was still alive and doing well wherever he was. He often returned to their home in Georgia to check if Sam came back.
5 years have passed, and Sam was still not found. Michael is unable to locate his beloved dog. One day, Michael suddenly received a call from City Dogs Cleveland.
“‘We have Sam,’ she says. I’m thinking, ‘This can’t be the same Sam! in the back of my head.’” Michael uttered. “‘Can you describe him for me, I ask you?’ I said, ‘Where are you and when can I pick him up?’ after she answered, ‘He’s a lighter-haired dog.’”
At the shelter, Sam was given a thorough medical examination. The medical staff found his microchip during the process of scanning him. They tracked down the Joy family with the microchip. That same day, Michael immediately traveled to Ohio for 8 hours. While traveling, Michael hoped that Sam would still recognize him since they both had undergone significant transformation after 4 years.
“You can just see the excitement in my face as I wait for them to pull Sam out as we go to the top,” Michael stated, “I was like a kid at Christmas.”
Sam did recognize Michael! The over-excited dog shared his happiness. Sam kept wagging his tail nonstop and jumping all over his dad. Since then, Michael never took Sam out of his sight again, and it was safe to assume.
Credits to: City Dogs Cleveland @CityDogsCLE/Twitter
Images credits: © I Love Animals/Facebook