Dog reunited with family after 8 years

MIAMI - A family has reunited with their dog eight years after he disappeared from their backyard.

"The dog had been missing since 2014," said Betsy Dehaan.

This was a reunion eight years and five months in the making.

"I just want to tell him I'm so sorry that I didn't find him."

Let's rewind to February of 2014, when Harley, a loveable, adventurous pitbull got a little too adventurous. 

"I turned them out to go to the bathroom, I turned my back for a second and they went off into the woods. And we went looking and never found Harley," said Dehaan. 

At just a few years old, Harley vanished from his Lee County home. 

"We searched and cruised and looked and put up posters and sent out the "wanted", you know, "missing pet" and just never stopped looking for him," said Dehaan. 

Even though he was microchipped, the search went cold, and whoever took Harley in, never checked the microchip to find his owner.

Fast forward to the present day.

"I didn't realize how bad it was until I actually got the dog," said Angie Bray, the woman who helped find Harley. 

A miracle that kept the love story alive. 

"The dog was so sweet, super well behaved. Seemed as happy as can be. Aside from being really skinny. He had some really overgrown nails," said Bray. 

Bray and her friend found a dog that looked like Harley wandering along Barto Boulevard in San Carlos Park.

Malnourished, almost nothing. but skin and bones eight years after he ran off. 

"it made me cry. It was just so heartbreaking to think about being torn away from when my animals were I just love and then being able to find them," said Bray. 

Bray took Harley to Cypress Lake Animal Hospital and Lee County Domestic Animal Services, and through the microchip, Bray found Dehaan's number. 

Because the dog was really Harley.

"We got the text on Saturday. And I'm like, is this a scam? Because we were talking about him that morning. You know, what an amazing dog and where could hardly be is he's still out there. And I got the text. And you know, you think Google always picks up on your advertisement?? Haha, I'm like, this is a scam. This is not real," said Dehaan. 

Dehaan no longer lives in Lee County, but when she found out Harley was safe, she drove 1,100 miles all the way from Missouri to Lee County.