Paola Perez is reunited with her beloved lost pet, Chihuahua. Photo: County Animal Services.
SAN DIEGO—The Perez family received a shock after learning that their beloved lost pet Chihuahua, Papi was alive and well-and living in San Diego.
County Animal Services found Paola Perez’s dog and called her Saturday to deliver the good news. The dog was located at the county’s animal care facility in San Diego.
Parez, a Normal Heights resident, described the emotional reunion at the animal care facility.
“Oh, my God, that’s him! I started crying, I couldn’t believe it,” said Perez. “He knew me, he was jumping on me.”
The dog has been missing since June of 2013, and the family feared they would never see their pet again.
Perez had taken Papi to the county animal care facility in Bonita for vaccinations, she was told to consider a microchip for the little dog. Perez got the microchip for Papi, just in case.
One day, the seven-pound brown and white dog disappeared from the family home in Bonita by squeezing through a small hole in the fence. Despite posting fliers, knocking on doors and calling the Bonita facility, there was no sign of Papi.
A small 8-year-old dog was brought into the county’s facility in San Diego and scanned for a microchip. The information on the microchip provided information of the dog’s owner.
“I’m very thankful to the lady who recommended the microchip,” said Perez. “I think every dog needs to get it. It’s just amazing how it can work after two years, just amazing how they can track me down.”
“A microchip is the best way to reunite animals with their owners,” said County Animal Services Director Dawn Danielson. “The chip itself is smaller than a grain of rice and getting one doesn’t hurt the animal one bit, yet it’s made all the difference in bringing hundreds of lost pets and their owners back together again.”
County Animal Services offers microchipping from 1 to 3 p.m. every Thursday at all three of its facilities in Bonita, San Diego and Carlsbad. There is the one-time fee of $10 which includes the registration.
