'It's A Miracle': Owner Reunites With Beloved Dog Lost 5 Years Ago
FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (CBS) -- It's an improbable moment Renee Perry had thought about for five years: a reunion with her foster dog, Bay.
"I did like to think about what it would like if I were to get her back. It was a pleasant surprise. I mean, a shock. A complete shock," Perry told WBZ-TV in Boston.
Bay went missing from a dog sitter's house in Framingham in June 2016, when she was 1½ years old. "To get her back ... I think it's an understatement to say it's a miracle because it's just crazy. It's surreal," said Perry.
Bay was missing for five years before being reunited with her owner (WBZ-TV)
Search efforts were in vain. Still, Perry remained hopeful, and on Tuesday, she got an unexpected call. Her dog had been found in Needham, about 10 miles from where she went missing.
"I didn't believe it at first. I saw the pictures, and it did look like her but her nose was darker; she just looked heavier; she just looked different," said Perry.
A couple found the dog wandering outside their home and reached out to Missing Dogs Massachusetts, a nonprofit organization that works to reunite missing dogs with their families. MDM then set up a kennel trap in the couple's yard.
"It was probably within a couple hours of trapping her and her microchip was scanned that we found out her story, and as soon as Renee got out of work, she was reunited with her," said Deb Newport, a volunteer with Missing Dogs Massachusetts.
"To the family that let them set up a cage in their yard, I'm forever thankful for them," said Perry.
On Tuesday, Perry took Bay to the vet to get a check-up and vaccines. By all accounts, she's one healthy, and brave, dog. "I'm amazed she survived five New England winters. But yeah, a resilient little dog," said Danielle Matthew, a Missing Dogs Massachusetts volunteer.
"Take those baby steps. Go back to putting the leash on her and trying to get her to walk on a leash and that's our goal, to keep going where we left off five years ago," said Perry.
