Lost dog found 8 months later 2,300 miles across the country, reunites with family

It’s always heartbreaking when a pet goes missing, but it’s important to not lose hope — sometimes pets show up when and where we least expect them.

That was the case recently when a missing dog suddenly reappeared after 8 months… in an entirely different part of the country.

On July 21, 2023, a dog named Mishka went missing from her home in San Diego, California. She had reportedly wandered off from the owner’s place of business, an auto garage.

Days and weeks passed, and though the dog had a microchip and the family’s phone number was on the collar, they never heard any word about the dog.

The family was devastated, as it seemed Mishka was gone for good.

Fast forward 8 months later. A resident of Harper Woods, Michigan found a dog in the woods and contacted the local police, who brought the stray to Grosse Pointe Animal Adoption Society.

Staff scanned the dog and discovered her microchip, which provided the owners’ contact information. They learned that the dog was Mishka — who over the past 8 months had somehow ended up across the country, 2,343 miles away from her home.

According to GPAAS, owner Mehrad Houman drove from Minneapolis, where the family was celebrating their Easter holiday, to pick up the long-lost dog. “I’ve been missing my kid, so that’s I think, what anybody would do to go get their kid back,” Mehrad told FOX 2 Detroit.

After a veterinary check, they drove 10 hours back to Minneapolis where Mishika reunited with the rest of the family.

“I never gave up,” Mehrad’s wife Elizabeth told the Associated Press. “I put up over a thousand flyers. I had a flyer on my back windshield. I wore her leash whenever I would look for her. … Now I just want to find out how she got to Michigan.”

It’s not clear how this San Diego dog ended up all the way in the Metro Detroit area, but the most likely reason is that she was stolen and transported across the country, as she appeared to be clean and well-fed.

“We think it was stolen and then it was sold and ended up in Michigan,” Corinne Martin, director of the Grosse Pointe Animal Adoption Society, told MLive. “Whoever had her took good care of her.”

In fact, she’s even picked up some new tricks: “Someone taught her how to sit. She sits now,” Elizabeth Houman told FOX 2.

Gross Pointe Animal Adoption Society shared the story both as a successful case of their municipalities working together, and as a reminder of the importance of getting your pets microchipped, which makes reunions like this possible, no matter the time nor distance.

“This is a tale that Hollywood would love to tell,” they wrote on Facebook.