A woman who lost he beloved pet Chihuahua in 2015 wept when she learnt he’d been found alive nine years later.
Judith Monarrez last saw Gizmo when she was 28 and living with her parents in Las Vegas in the US.
The pet dog, who was two at the time, slipped past a faulty gate in the backyard of their home and ran off.
During the time Gizmo was missing, Judith moved into her own home, earned a master’s degree in English and embarked on a teaching career in higher education.
But over the years she never gave up hope of finding Gizmo.
And finally, on June 21 this year, she received an email saying her beloved pet been found alive.
The now 37-year-old said she was so happy at the news she ended up crumpled on the floor in tears.
She was later told a woman had seen Gizmo on the street and taken him to a vets to be scanned for a microchip, which thankfully he had. The scan then triggered the email to Judith.
Within hours of learning her dog had been found, the pair were reunited.
Judith called it ‘a miracle,’ adding, ‘I’m so glad I registered his microchip.’
She said Gizmo’s first week back at home had brought mixed emotions.
It’s not known what the Chihuahua endured over the past nine years, but Judith said he has grown afraid of shadows, heights and birds and now walks with a limp.
Both of the dog’s eyes were also severely infected, and some of his teeth were missing.
But despite the changes, Judith could tell straight away it was the family’s long lost pet.
‘Even though he looked so different, when I looked in his eyes I knew immediately it was Gizmo. And as soon as I said his name, he tilted his head and he didn’t stop staring at me.’
Judith and her parents’ focus now, she said, was on addressing his health issues and ‘showering him with all the love that we were holding onto for all those years’.
Last year a dog missing for more than six years in the UK was found alive and well after living wild in the woods.
Rose, a black Patterdale terrier, was discovered by a rescue team nearly seven years after running away from her family.
The 12-year-old dog survived just six miles away from her home, where she ate food left out for badgers and was known as the local stray.
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