It’s always heartbreaking when a dog goes missing, but don’t give up hope: dogs can sometimes return to us when we least expect it, months or even years later.
That was the case recently, when an eight-year-old beagle was reunited with his family.
According to the Wichita Eagle, Roscoe vanished in 2015, when he was just one year old. It’s unclear how he got away from his house.
Owner Nicolle Leon of Wichita, Kansas, told the outlet that she and her family “looked everywhere” for their beloved dog, and that she and her family checked with the local shelter every day for months.
Unfortunately, there was no sign of Roscoe. Years went by, and the family assumed their dog had died.
Cut to the previous month. Nicolle received an unexpected phone call in the middle of the night on January 11.
“They said hey, ‘We found your dog,’” she told the Wichita Eagle. “My first thought was that one of my dogs that I have now had gotten out.”
But she was taken aback when the missing dog turned out to be Roscoe, eight years after he went missing. “She says it’s a beagle and I immediately jumped up,” Nicolle said.
Not only had many years passed, but Roscoe had been discovered all the way in Caldwell, Idaho, about 1,400 miles away.
Roscoe was found as a stray, according to a Facebook post in a local missing pets group, and local women Shae DeBerry and Katherine Miller scanned him for a microchip. They were shocked to learn that Roscoe had been missing for years and contacted his family.
Roscoe was soon on his way home. “Friday, Jan. 13th I loaded little Roscoe into a transport van for his big send off to his family,” Shae wrote on Facebook.
It’s unclear what Roscoe has been up to all these years, and the owner expressed regret over having “missed out on eight years with him.”
Nonetheless, the family was overjoyed to have their long-lost dog returned. Their home has changed: Nicolle’s two children, who were toddlers when Roscoe vanished, are now teenagers, and the family now has two other dogs.
But no love was lost, and everyone is eager to make amends for lost time.
“I wondered, ‘like, is he going to recognize us?’” Nicolle told the Wichita Eagle. “When he got out of that transport van, he was so excited and wagging his tail. He jumped all over my kids.”
“It feels good to have him and take care of him for the rest of his life.”