Watch This North Carolina Woman Reunite With Dog Who Went Missing for a Year, Spent 120 Days in Shelter

Mochie somehow escaped his house and spent 120 days in the shelter before his owner’s daughter saw his profile. By Austin Cannon March 15, 2022 Advertisement Pin FB More Tweet Email Send Text Message Print
brindle dog laying in grass, reunited with owner after a year Credit: Mary Swift / Adobe Stock

An eagle-eyed relative helped this North Carolina woman reunite with her dog Mochie, who'd been missing for a year before she saw him again at an animal shelter 200 miles away from their home. 

Mochie, a 5-year-old hound mix, escaped from Emerald Tinae's Wilmington, N.C., home about a year ago, but on March 3, she got to see him again during a reunion full of wagging tails, kisses, and cuddles. 

"When [Guilford County Animal Services] called me on the phone to tell me the microchip was mine … I was already crying," Tinae told WGHP.

The escape artist dog—"He'll open doors, windows. He'll get out. When he wants out, he'll get out," Tinae told the TV station—disappeared last year, but his mom wasn't sure what happened to him, even wondering if he was stolen. 

RELATED: Thanks To Microchip, Arkansas Man To Reunite With Cat He Thought Was Dead

His whereabouts were unknown until November when Guilford County Animal Services captured him and brought him to its facility in Greensboro. They scanned his microchip, but its information was out of date, WGHP reported. 

He stayed in the shelter for months—120 days all told—before Tinae's daughter saw his adoption photo and profile online. Tinae was soon on her way to Greensboro.  

"The fact that we were able to reunite him [with] someone so far away … to someone who doesn't live in this county is really great," Kendelle Federico, the shelter's foster coordinator, told WGHP. 

This story serves as another important lesson: Yes, microchips are incredibly important for our dogs, but keeping them updated with correct information is, too.