CABOT, Ark. – A Texas family, going more than the extra mile to reunite with their dog who ended up in Cabot, Arkansas.
David Cardenas and his wife Alejandra got Milo when he was a puppy.
“While I was out to sea weeks, months at a time, he was with her,” Cardenas said.
He was a companion while David was deployed in the Navy, but they had to leave Milo with a family member in Los Fresnos, Texas while they were moving in 2015. While they were gone, they said their beloved pet was stolen.
“The worst part, my wife and I say, was just not knowing,” Cardenas said.
They lost hope after looking for him until a random Arkansas telephone number called them this week, nine years later.
“It was very overwhelming,” Cardenas said.
Jenny Bridges, who lives in Cabot, found Milo, and thanks to his microchip, found his family too.
“And I Facetimed them, as soon as I turned the camera around their voices changed and they were so excited,” Bridges said.
The family was going to meet someone in Houston to pick up Milo but decided to go ahead and make the drive.
“I just told my boss, ‘Hey I got an emergency I got to go,’ so I canceled everything for the day,” Cardenas said.
They drove 800 miles and more than a dozen hours from Los Fresnos to Cabot to get Milo.
Praising the small device that reunited them, Dr. Whitt Bell with Little Woods Animal Hospital encouraged everyone to microchip their pets.
“I would microchip every one of my pets even if they were in a fence because you never know what could happen next,” Bell said.
After a nine-year journey brought him to Cabot, Milo is now headed back to Texas with his family.
“They’re different looking but the feeling is still the same, you don’t get rid of that,” Cardenas said
The family said thank you to Little Woods Animal Hospital and Dirt Roads Mutts Rescue for playing a huge role in returning Milo.