Nearly nine months after his disappearance, a dog that had gone missing in California was discovered more than 2,000 miles away in Michigan.
A resident in Harper Woods, a Detroit suburb, contacted police in late March to report a stray dog in her neighborhood. Police collected the terrier mix, named Mishka, and brought her to an animal welfare group.
Grosse Pointe Animal Adoption Society said it quickly discovered that the dog had an identity chip implanted in her with information about her owner.
Mehrad and Liz Houman live in San Diego but were traveling to Minneapolis to see relatives when the phone rang. Once the family landed in Minnesota, Mehrad drove 10 hours to Michigan to see Mishka, the adoption group said in a Facebook post with pictures and video documenting the reunion.
“I’ve been missing my kid, so that’s I think what anybody would do to go get their kid back,” Mehrad Houman told Fox 2.
Grosse Pointe Animal Adoption Society described Mishka’s story as “a tale that Hollywood would love to tell”.
“We were able to locate the Houmans through microchip technology and reunite Mishka. This is the happy ending we all wanted.”
Harper Woods police confirmed their involvement on Thursday.
Mishka had disappeared in July from Houman’s workplace.
Veterinarian Nancy Pillsbury, who examined the three-year-old dog, gave her a rabies shot and cleared her to travel home to California, said that Mishka was clean and well-fed. “Whoever had her took good care of her.”
“How she got here – that’s a story only Mishka knows,” Pillsbury told the Associated Press.
The Houman family said that they wonder how Mishka made it all the way to Michigan, and pointed out that she has learned to sit in the time she’s been away. They are grateful to have their beloved pet back and to the person who found her, they told Fox 2.
“It’s a 100% miracle, and we never gave up hope. And I knew that we were going to get her back,” Liz Houman said.
