WHY YOUR PET DOG SHOULD BE MICROCHIPPED

Thanks to the implanted microchip, a family is reunited with teir beloved Labrador lost seven years ago

Microchips have been responsible for reuniting many families with their lost pets. If you love your dog, be sure to have him or her microchipped.

FAMILY FINALLY REUNITED WITH BELOVED BUDDY THE DOG SEVEN YEARS AFTER HE WENT MISSING DURING SAN DIEGO WILDFIRES THAT DESTROYED THEIR HOME
John Hartman and his family lost their home during the devastating fires of 2007 in San Diego, moved to Oklahoma but recently returned to visit their son and by chance received a call from San Diego Animal Services saying that Buddy had been found thanks to his microchip

By Louise Boyle

Mail Online
April 9, 2014

A beloved dog who vanished during the huge firestorm which engulfed San Diego in 2007 has been reunited with his family.

John Hartman and his family not only lost their home during the firestorm but also their black Labrador retriever Buddy.

Soon after the fires, someone found the two-year-old Lab and took him to a vet's office but the dog escaped. The Hartmans moved to Oklahoma but never gave up on their beloved Buddy.

However by an amazing stroke of luck, the Hartmans received a call from the Department of Animal Services during a recent trip to San Diego to see their son. Long-lost Buddy, now ten, had been found.

The dog had been found running loose in the Imperial Beach neighborhood and was dropped off at Gaines Street Animal Shelter on March 28.

He was reunited with his owners on April 1 and taken home with them to Oklahoma.

Buddy was found thanks to a microchip that his owners had implanted in his neck two years before the fires.

Dan DeSousa, the deputy director of Animal Services, told MailOnline: 'The story could have had a tragic ending when the dog was lost during the wildfires, but the happy ending can’t be beat.'

Mr DeSousa said he believed someone had been caring for Buddy all the years that he had been missing - not no one else came forward to collect him. He said that the Hartmans had never given up hope that Buddy would come back to them.

The California wildfires in October, 2007 destroyed at least 1,500 homes and burned half a million acres of land. Nine people died, 85 were injured including at least 61 firefighters.