A man from Fort Worth, Texas, and his beloved pet are back together after a seven year search that ended in Florida.
When Kerry Smith’s dog, Jazzy, bolted from their home during a July 4 celebration with fireworks, Smith was devastated, WESH reported Saturday.
The noises fireworks make are loud and unexpected, making some dogs nervous, according to Purina.
However, everything was not lost because members of the Orange County Animal Services recently found the abandoned dog in a hotel room in desperate need of food and water.
At the time, Jazzy could barely walk and was suffering from arthritis, the organization explained in a social media post on Saturday, adding they also discovered Jazzy had a microchip which they linked to the Texas family.
“When we called them, we gave them the surprise of a lifetime. You see, Jazzy was 12 years old, and she had been five years old when she had gotten spooked by fireworks and run away. The family was unable to find her anywhere. They searched for her for a long time, and even after seven years, they never gave up hope,” the group said:
Despite her health problems, Jazzy’s owner quickly got on a plane and when he arrived in Florida, the two were reunited.
Jazzy lit up when she heard her owner’s voice and kept her eyes on him the entire time.
“She licked his hand again and again and inched her body as close as she could to him. After all those years, her heart still remembered, and was finally whole,” the organization’s post read.
Social media users were overjoyed at the news and one person said it was “truly a Christmas miracle.”
Now, Smith encourages people to have their dogs microchipped, adding, “I always wondered if she was alive, I always wondered if she was happy, if she was feeling well, and she’s not now, but we will get her better.”
A similar instance happened last month when a dog that disappeared as a puppy 12 years ago in the United Kingdom was reunited with her owner, according to Breitbart News.