Wayward Dog Belonging To California Family Found In Michigan
MODESTO (CBS SF) – A wayward dog belonging to a California family will soon be coming home after he was found thousands of miles away in Michigan.
Benny, a stray two-and-a-half-year-old lab/pit mix, was found in Bay County, about 100 miles north of Detroit, on March 22nd, animal control officials said in a statement.
ALSO READ: Family Dog Credited For Thwarting Baby Abduction
In April, officials featured Benny on a Facebook video which highlights pets available for adoption at the shelter. Soon after, a family from Modesto claiming to be Benny's owners contacted the shelter.
"To have found a dog in our drop box, put there by a police officer, and we don't know where he picked him up - but somewhere in Bay County, obviously. And then to be notified by a family in California that we had their dog was really a shock to all of us," Mike Halstead of Bay County Animal Control told CBS affiliate WNEM-TV.
Gabby McAndrew told KPIX Benny was lost in the process of a move from Tennessee to Modesto when her husband Trevor was redeployed more than four months ago.
ALSO READ: Service Dogs Specialize In Helping Veterans With Post-Traumatic Stress
"Recently, something told me to search for him, so I did!" McAndrew said in an email to WNEM. "I knew the odds of finding him were not in my favor, but it was worth a try! I started calling shelters and using social media as a platform to find him! I came across the "Bay County Animal Shelter" in Bay City, Michigan.... I found Benny! How did Benny make it to Michigan?! That is still a mystery to us!"
The dog was microchipped, but the information on the chip was for a previous owner who was stationed at a military base in Kentucky.
McAndrew said she will be reunited with Benny when he is flown from Michigan to San Francisco International Airport on Tuesday evening, but that her husband is currently overseas and won't be able to see Benny until February of 2020.
ALSO READ: Robot Therapy Dogs Designed To Help Patients Who Can't Care For Real Pets