Sandra O'Neill's dog had been missing for more than a year when she drove past one of his old haunts in Sacramento, California, and prayed that he was somewhere safe.
The very next morning, Ms O'Neill got a phone call informing her that Zeppelin – her family's beloved three-year-old German shepherd mix – had been found more than 1,600 miles away from home in Kansas.
"I was floored. Just shocked when they told me," Ms O'Neill told NPR.
It will be a remarkable reunion not only for Zeppelin and the O'Neills, but for the two puppies that he sired not long before he went missing in October 2021.
Described as "very outgoing" and "loving", he was an abandoned puppy before being found and adopted by the O'Neills, who named him after the band Led Zeppelin.
When he vanished, Ms O'Neill and her friends posted on every Facebook missing dog group they could find, hoping against hope that someone somewhere would run into him and check his microchip.
While driving with her husband past an old construction site about a mile from their farm, where Zeppelin had often received treats and pets from the workers, Ms O'Neill said she whispered to herself: "I hope you're somewhere safe."
The following day, she got a phone call from the microchip company telling her that a woman in Louisburg, Kansas had found him on her property and taken him to a vet.
Although it is unknown exactly how Zeppelin ended up in Kansas, Ms O'Neill said she suspects that one of the construction workers may have been responsible.
"This dog has never met a stranger in his life," she told NPR. "He's a very outgoing, loving dog. So every day he'd go down there and either he'd come home on his own or I would go out to get him....
"I have no proof but I think somebody down there fell in love with him and took him home."
Now Ms O’Neill says Zeppelin is on his way back across the country just in time for Christmas, riding with a woman named Mary Hastings who volunteered to give him a lift as she returned from visiting her daughter in Kansas.
"I am just so grateful for all of the good folks along the way who have helped in trying to get this puppy home to us," said Ms O'Neill.
She added: "I'm sure he's going to love every minute of it. He loves car rides."
