A Texas man is reunited with his lost dog years after she went missing. Almost seven years ago on the night before Independence Day, Kerry Smith’s dog Jazzy got spooked by the fireworks in Fort Worth and ran off. The family looked everywhere for the five-year-old Australian Shepherd, but never were able to find her. Fortunately, Jazzy was microchipped, so the family never gave up hope that they’d be reunited some day.
Earlier this month, Orlando animal services officers responded to a call about a dog that had been left in an abandoned hotel room. The dog was in bad shape and could barely walk, but they took her back to the shelter and cleaned her up. They soon realized that the pup was microchipped and were able to track down her owner in Texas. When Kerry got the call that Jazzy had been found, he was soon on a plane headed to Florida.
Jazzy is a bit older now and has an advanced case of arthritis, but when she saw her owner for the first time in so many years, she perked right up. In a post to social media, the shelter described the tearful reunion and how Jazzy licked Kerry’s hand and inched closer to him. The staff at the shelter say that they have to deal with so much heartache day in and day out and that one encounter like this makes it all worth it. “If we could write a happy ending like this for every one of our animals, we would,” they wrote. “All we can do is our best. To get them all seen, and get them all home. Like Jazzy.”