By Elaine Furst For Dog Files

How he got 715 miles away from his home, nobody knows. All Bryan Rapozo knows is that he got his beloved “Bear Bear” back.

Bear’s story started on Tuesday afternoon when he was sitting out back of Rapozo’s acoustical ceiling company in Sacramento California, looking for a squirrel that was bothering him. When Rapozo went to look for Bear, he was gone.

“I figured that was it,” Rapozo said. “I didn’t think I’d ever get him back.”

Well, fast-forward to Thursday afternoon, 715 miles away in Tacoma, Washington when an unidentified woman turned in the 20-pound Rat Terrier Mix to the Humane Society for Tacoma & Pierce County, saying she found him roaming in Lakewood.

When Bear was found, he didn’t have the new collar and identification tag that Rapozo said he put on him Sunday. The tag included Rapozo’s name, cell phone number and Bear’s name.

But one thing Bear did have was a microchip.

So thanks to the microchip, the Humane Society was able to get a message to Rapozo, who has two daughters and considers Bear his son, that the dog had been found safe in Tacoma.

“It was the best news I’ve ever heard,” Rapozo said Friday.

In her 16 years at the Humane Society, Marguerite Richmond said she’s never known of a dog wandering so far.

“I think it’s extremely unusual,” Richmond said. “He didn’t walk up here. He didn’t get here by himself.”

Richmond also said the happy ending shows it’s a good idea to have your pet microchipped, which costs $25 at the Humane Society.

As for Bear, Rapozo said “he will no longer be going outside alone. He’s not going to leave my side.”