A Detroit family got an unexpected early Christmas present when they were reunited with their pet dog after it had been missing for four years.
Felicia Fritz adopted her puppy, Toby, in 2018. Fritz told WXYZ that Toby would sometimes come and go from her home, but in 2021 he left and never came back.
Four years passed, and Fritz had all but accepted that her Toby was gone for good. But Toby was still out in the world, and eventually was picked up by the Humane Society, where he was adopted by an older man and renamed Ziggy.
The man who adopted Ziggy became too ill to care for the dog, and surrendered him to the Friends of Michigan Animals Rescue.
"As far as we knew, Ziggy was a surrender, and his owner was not going to be able to come back for him," Krissy Powe, a board member with Friends of Michigan Animals Rescue, told WXYZ.
That is when a little social luck helped Ziggy, or Toby, find his way back home.
Ziggy spent more than a year in the shelter. But he was used to running around outside and living with humans — the shelter life was taking its toll on the dog, and the staff knew the sooner they could find him a home, the better.
"We knew that mentally the shelter was taking a very bad toll on his mental well-being, and when he reached that year mark, we knew we had to try to go hard and try to find him a home," Powe said.
The animal rescue workers turned to social media. They shared photos of the dog across various social networks, hoping that they'd entice a prospective pet owner to adopt him.
Someone from Ziggy's past saw the photos — his former owner, Fritz.
"When I scrolled... to just like close my phone, [Toby] was right there on my phone," she told the broadcaster.
Fritz used old photos of Toby to prove to the shelter that she was his original owner, and they eventually agreed to release the dog into her custody. The moment and Toby’s journey were shared on social media. A video on Facebook from the rescue had more than 400 likes.
"Like a whole sense of my family's complete, it didn't even feel real, honestly. It did not feel real at all," Fritz said. "For a long time, I just lost all faith, I'm not going to lie, I lost all faith, and when I found him, it was like, okay."
She has since microchipped Toby, and said she will never forget the Christmas that brought her dog back to her.
"This is one I'll never forget, my kids will never forget. I am so blessed, and it's something that money cannot buy," she said.
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