A San Diego family has been reunited with their dog, Mishka, who was missing for more than eight months and traveled more than 2,300 miles, before turning up in Michigan last week.
Mehrad and Elizabeth Houman were traveling from California to Minnesota to visit family, when they got the call that their long-lost friend had been found in suburban Detroit.
They then drove 10 hours from Minnesota before finally being reunited with their dog on Friday.
“This is a tale that Hollywood would love to tell,” said the Grosse Pointe Animal Adoption Society (GPAAS), who turned Mishka over to the family.
The 3-year-old terrier mix had reportedly escaped from an auto garage where Mehrad was working in July, and never returned.
Although she was originally wearing a collar with the Houmans’ phone number, it’s believed Mishka was stolen and then sold, before ending up in Michigan, according to the GPAAS.
Mishka was first located in Harper Woods, near Lake St. Clair, after police responded to a call regarding a stray dog on March 28.
After being transferred to GPAAS, it was quickly discovered that Mishka had an identity chip implant that contained the Houmans’ information.
Veterinarian Nancy Pillsbury cleared Mishka to travel home to San Diego after examining her and administering a rabies shot, saying, “she was clean, well-fed. Whoever had her took good care of her.”
But, Pillsbury added, “how she got here — that’s a story only Mishka knows.”
Elizabeth Houman said it’s been an “incredible journey” reuniting with Mishka.
“I never gave up,” she said Thursday. “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.”
With News Wire Services
