Missing California Dog Found Tied to a Fence in Michigan 5 Years Later

Talk about your ultimate happy endings.

A family in California just got the shock of a lifetime when their missing dog randomly turned up…in Michigan, of all places. Yeah, all the way across the country, five years after the little guy disappeared.

Choco slipped out of his yard in Antelope, California, back in 2021 and disappeared. His family looked everywhere, found nothing, and eventually figured someone must have taken him. They were probably right, because he somehow ended up tied to a fence in Lincoln Park.

See Also: Dog Found Frozen to Death Outside Michigan Home

Thankfully, someone brought him to an animal shelter where they scanned his microchip and boom, mystery solved. Well, sort of. He was found, but everything else about his whereabouts will probably always be a mystery.

Nobody knows who had him, where he lived, or how he traveled more than 2,000 miles. It’s like he lived a whole secret life.

According to CBS Detroit, a California rescue group helped organize getting him home, and a stranger even donated her airline miles to fly him back. The dog actually flew home on a real ticket. I didn’t even know that was a thing.

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His owner said she honestly stopped believing she’d ever see him again. One phone call changed everything. And it only happened because of that tiny microchip.

This story really proves how important it is to have your dog microchipped. Without it, who knows what would have happened to Choco.