A devoted dog was recently reunited with his favorite owner, who never gave up seeking for him despite the fact that he had been missing for nearly two years.
And the story of how they managed to reconnect is nothing short of incredible.
The husky initially appeared in Kameroun Mares’ life at a time when she desperately needed love and company.
Mares was battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia. She met the little puppy shortly after undergoing chemotherapy in the summer of 2013 and chose to adopt him.
Semper Fidelis — “Always loyal” in Latin — was his name, and he was known as Semper for short.
“He’s always been loyal to me,” Mares said to The Dodo. Despite Semper’s loyalty, something managed to separate Mares from her pet dog.
Mares had to go to California from Florida for more medical treatment in 2016, and her roommate at the time volunteered to look after Semper. But Mares received an unexpected call. “My ex-roommate informed me he was missing,” Mares explained.
When she got home, she looked everywhere for Semper. When she had to go to California later that year, she kept in touch with shelters in Florida.
“I continued searching for him for a year while in California, placing posters on pet sites, phoning 15 vet offices near where I used to reside over there about him, calling humane organizations about him, shelters,” Mares explained. “[I] shared information about him on Facebook, lost dog forums, and various pages and organizations. Every day, I waited for a phone call informing me that someone had found him… His microchip has been registered to me since he was three months old… yet I have gotten nothing. I was concerned about him and missed him terribly.”
Mares decided to seek assistance at that point. Ana Campos, a private investigator, was hired to assist her find her beloved puppy.
“She had bought a lifetime registration with AKC Reunite,” Campos said to The Dodo. “Someone advised she check her AKC Reunite chip again after a year. So, in May 2017, she went to the humane society, and they checked online… That’s when she found that a lady had put her name to Semper’s chip a year before, on April 11, 2016.”
The other microchip business apparently did not check to see if an owner was already registered on Semper’s chip. Campos discovered that someone had put Semper up for sale on Craigslist for $200, which was why he hadn’t come up despite Mares’ efforts.
Finally, Semper and Mares were reunited recently, and both the dog and Mares were overcome with emotion. Mares burst into tears with pleasure, and Semper couldn’t stop jumping.
“It was one of the happiest days of my life to be able to have a role in this reunion and be present,” Campos remarked.
Semper is fitting back in nicely with his family, enjoying long walks about his new neighborhood in California and getting to know the lay of the land with Mares (whose cancer is thankfully in remission).
“He recalls his orders and skills that I taught him,” Mares explained. “My personal favorite is the’go home’ command… ‘Semper, go home,’ I urge him. What happened to home? ‘Please return home.’” And Semper locates the exact proper door.
“I think of him as an extension of myself and my heart,” Mares explained. “I’m relieved to have him back in my arms.”
