File this under: "Never lose hope." Also file this under: "Always chip your dog."
Missy the St. Bernard was stolen from her home in Pueblo in 2011, not long after the Mahaffey family had adopted her as a service dog, KMOV reports.
One week ago, animal control officers near St. Louis picked up a big, shaggy girl. Her microchip data was outdated, but a persistent volunteer reportedly figured out that the dog belonged to the Mahaffeys.
No one knows how Missy got to Festus, Missouri. It's a journey of nearly 900 miles. (I like to imagine that Missy has been tolling the roads of America as a big-rig trucker, but it's probably sadder than that.)
Now the volunteer from the animal shelter, Melissa Wideman-Morton, is planning to drive the dog all the way back to Pueblo, according to this GoFundMe.
"We're going to go for walks and then I'm going to take her to a park like we used to," said Kalli, one of the Mahaffey's daughters, according to KMOV.
The dog was reportedly looking a bit rough, but she's looking happy now. And, who knows, maybe this will give some hope to the parents of Geno, the St. Bernard who went missing from the Cold Springs Fire. (Warning: Tear jerker.)
Woof.
