Two Microchipped California Dogs Return Home After Four Years Lost
July 10, 2011 in Gadgets, Inspirational, News
Victor Garcia and his three dogs (from left) Tedo, Hobo and Hazel gather together in their front yard.
Although dog owner Victor Garcia thought his two beloved dogs, Hobo and Tedo, were lost forever, microchips brought them both home after they had been missing for four years.
Hobo, a male Dachshund, and Tedo, a brindle Shepherd mix, were playing in the backyard of Garcia’s North Long Beach, California home in April 2007 when they disappeared.
After a year passed, Garcia decided to move on and rescue another dog from the shelter, a female German Shepherd named Hazel, now 4 years old. He said he had finally adjusted to the idea that Hobo and Tedo weren’t coming home.
So last year when the first call came from Long Beach California Animal Care Services that Tedo, 7, had been picked up and identified by microchip, Garcia said he “just about dropped dead” from surprise.
“I barely recognized her when she came home because she had gained a little weight,” Garcia, 58, said. “She didn’t recognize me until she got home and saw her doggy door. That’s when she got excited.”
And when a second call came just last month, Garcia said he nearly fell out of his chair. Hobo, 6, known for his mop of black and brown untidy fur, had been found too.
“It was a total shock both times,” the dog owner said. “My German Shepherd took it all in stride, but when Hobo and Tedo met again they went berserk for about half an hour because they remembered each other.”
Having three dogs wasn’t planned, but as a retiree, Garcia said he’s glad he has enough time to take care of each of them and take the whole pack on long walks around the neighborhood.
“This threw a pleasant monkey wrench into my schedule,” he said. “Just when I was getting used to the two, now the third one comes in… They are my family.”
Garcia, who has been a dog lover his whole life, said he is just glad he spent the money to get the microchips and register the animals so that Animal Care Services could bring them back to him — even if the dogs’ return happened to be a few years later than expected.
“If you plan on keeping your dog, it is worth it to microchip,” he said while scratching two of the pooches behind the ears. “I know a lot of people who love their dogs like I do, and it really is worth it.”
Convicted animal abuser and Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick has reportedly just signed an endorsement deal with Nike.
