WAYNE COUNTY, Mich. – A beloved family dog from San Diego ran away and somehow wound up in Wayne County.
The family is calling the matter an Easter miracle after the 3-year-old terrier mix named “Mishka” went missing last July.
Officials say they got a call last week in Harper Woods about the stray dog, but everyone is questioning how it got thousands of miles from home.
Most importantly, 5-year-old Liz Houman has her best friend back. The Houman family waited seven months for the reunion.
“I still can’t believe it because for the past seven months, I still looked around our house for her and now I can see her,” said Liz’s sister, Lindsey Moody.
It’s unclear how the 3-year-old Mexican street dog, a chihuahua terrier mix, got to Metro Detroit.
“When I was able to scan it for a microchip, not expecting one, we did, and even more exciting, it was registered,” said Corine Martin of the Grosse Pointe Animal Adoption Society.
The family was flying to Liz’s mom’s home when they got the news.
“I started sobbing immediately,” Moody said. “I was so shocked; I got the email and then a call and was trying to wrap my head around it.”
Mehrad Houman didn’t waste time getting from Minneapolis to the Grosse Pointe Animal Adoption Society.
“So, they flew in at midnight, and then Mehrad, her husband, immediately drove all night,” Moody said. “Drove half the day, picked her up, and then drove all night again. To bring her home to Minneapolis.”
“She has been a little pretty tired and thin since we got her,” Moody said. “So we’re getting her back to her, nurturing her back, but she is in really good health.”
It’s a reunion beyond their wildest dreams.
“It’s been insane and incredibly miraculous, but I will say, never gave up hope,” Moody said. “Never once. I knew that we were going to get her.”
Mishka was microchipped at the Grosse Pointe Animal Adoption Society, and the society wasn’t sure if it would be a match or if it could find its family and reconnect with them.
Officials say the dog had a collar with the family’s phone number, but it was removed.
The family says they were visiting their grandmother in Minneapolis over the summer break when the dog went missing. In a circle of life, they were visiting again for Easter when they got the call that Mishka had been found.
The family says they’ll be returning to California this time all together.