A Stranger’s Dog Helped Solve A Moving Mystery

Kate had been having a really tough day up until that point. She’d just gotten home from a harrowing event: she’d lost a friend some time ago and a memorial service had just been held in their honor. This person had gone before their time, so you can imagine the emotions running through Kate that day.

The perfect tonic to those difficult feelings that day, it turned out, was a dog strolling into her eye line. Kate loves dogs of every kind and this one was particularly cute. The brown pup had white markings as well as a strong will. While its owner was trying to get it to move along, it had other ideas.

Kate then wrote about this pup’s visit to her house on a Twitter thread, which has since gone viral. She’s a journalist, after all, so telling stories isn’t exactly alien to her. Kate has a knack for it and that may well go some way to explaining why the tale caught on so much.

“Today I was sitting on my porch, enjoying the sunshine and the rest of my day off after returning from the memorial service of a friend who died far too soon,” Kate tweeted. “A woman and her dog stopped at my yard, and the dog plopped down on my grass.”

Kate then gave some details about the animal. “The dog was cute, a brown pitty girl with white markings,” she wrote. “All dogs are perfect but she was [particularly] charming. Her owner was trying to get her rolling again but she was staying put. She called her. ‘Winnie! Come on!’ Her name was Winnie!”

Now, that last detail’s important. Because upon hearing that this dog was called Winnie, Kate’s mind started ticking. She’d encountered a dog with that same name in the past. Not so long ago, in fact, she’d acted as a foster parent to a puppy that she’d decided to call Winnie. And when it was time for that dog to be moved along to another home, Kate was left devastated.

“This immediately registered because last November, I fostered a dog for the first time over Thanksgiving,” Kate elaborated on Twitter. “She was a soft wiggly baby puppy I named Winnie. I cried for three days after she was spayed and went up for adoption, worrying about whether she had found a good home.”

So this was a mighty coincidence. Kate had been missing a dog named Winnie and all of a sudden another one with the exact same name had shown up on her doorstep. What were the chances? But now that Kate was looking at this animal, she started to suspect that this situation was even more unlikely than that.

Kate just had to learn more about this curious animal, so she approached its owner for a chat. “I asked the woman whether she adopted Winnie with that name,” Kate tweeted. “She said yes, as she didn’t want to change her name and confuse her. I asked when — she said last November.”

The wind was really knocked out of Kate at that point. All of it was beginning to add up. This wasn’t just any old dog — it was her dog. She was elated by the realization, as she explained on Twitter. “By then, I was practically leaping off the porch screaming,” Kate recalled. “I FOSTERED THIS DOGGGGGG.”

Kate explained to Winnie’s new owner that she’d actually approached the dog shelter to request that they let her know if Winnie was ever returned into their care. If that did happen, Kate decided to be on hand to take her in again. But, as the new owner told Kate, she absolutely wanted to keep Winnie and would never return her to the shelter.

Kate explained on Twitter that Winnie’s new owner had actually lost a pooch, not long before encountering Winnie. That initially happened online, when she saw a picture of the dog on the shelter’s website. There and then, they immediately decided they wanted to bring Winnie home as soon as they possibly could.

This person was successful in making the arrangements and soon Winnie was living in her home. But by incredible coincidence this person’s house was really close to where Kate now lived. So, in a twist of fate, Winnie would be staying in the same area as the person who’d fostered her.

Kate explained on Twitter, “Now, I just moved into this house a couple months ago. And it turns out this house is a block over from Winnie! I would have been at work, not on my porch, this afternoon if not for traveling from the memorial service of my friend Heidi, a tremendous lover of dogs.”

Kate’s friend Heidi would surely have been delighted by how things worked out here. She seemingly loved dogs as much as Kate, after all, and she’d had two of her own. Their names, Kate wrote on Twitter, were Griffin and Chiweenie Thunder. They still apparently live with Heidi’s partner.

As for Kate, she was just delighted to meet Winnie again. She tweeted, “It was beyond comforting for my first foster dog to turn up on my front lawn today, her fur still soft and her ear still crooked and her tail still wagging. Here she is in all her grown-up glory and I hope she warms your heart, too!”

Kate had been so upset when she’d had to give up Winnie for adoption that it’d put her off fostering ever again. Yet now that Winnie had returned into her life, she reconsidered her position. Seeing how happy Winnie was now, it’d definitely become a more appealing option.

And the very best part of all this for Kate was that it meant she’d get to see Winnie on the regular now. She only lived a small distance away, after all. And thankfully, Winnie’s new owner was up for letting Kate see the dog. It’d all worked out so neatly.

Kate had owned a dog of her own all this time — her name was Foxy. So, not only did Winnie get to see her old human guardian again, but she was now reunited with a doggie friend, too. According to Kate, Winnie was a little more fond of Foxy than the other way around. After all, Foxy was an old dog by this point, so that was understandable — and we very much doubt it spoiled Winnie’s fun. But this is far from the only story of an individual being reunited with a four-legged friend, however...

Brandon Levin works as an animal services officer. In February 2022 he got a call from a concerned citizen after a dog was seemingly abandoned in their neighborhood. Brandon didn’t waste any time in reaching the area — close to the city of Stockton in California — after he was given some additional details. Things looked pretty bleak for the animal.

Yes, Brandon was informed that the female canine looked quite sick. On top of that, she didn’t seem to be all that young either, which added to the concern. Could her condition deteriorate further? The animal services officer was able to assess the situation a little better once he arrived on the scene.

So, what did Brandon do next? Well, after noting that the dog didn’t have any form of identification on her, he grabbed a scanner from his vehicle. You see, the authority figure wanted to find out if she’d been microchipped, knowing that would provide him with some more information about her.

On that note, Brandon examined the dog with his equipment. She indeed had a chip, which confirmed that her name was Zoey. But the other stored data caught him completely off-guard. According to that information, this pooch had been lost for a very long time. Over a decade, in fact.

No joke! Brandon saw that Zoey’s old owners declared her as lost back in 2010. At that time, the dog had been living in Lafayette, California, with her human family. Now, she was close to 70 miles away from her previous home. Yet the biggest shock was still to come for the animal services officer.

Due to the length of time that Zoey had been reported lost, the organization that monitored the chips put her down as “deceased” in 2015. It was all on file — even though the canine was clearly still alive. That’s unbelievable, right? We can only imagine what Brandon was thinking when that popped up.

It was a highly unusual case, to put it mildly. And there was another twist in store when Brandon continued to read through the information on the chip. Yep, he spotted a phone number belonging to Zoey’s old guardian in Lafayette, whose name is Michelle. Would it still work, though? Twelve years is a long time.

Brandon shared that information with the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office, who subsequently gave it a try. Luckily, Michelle hadn’t changed her number, despite leaving Lafayette some time ago. She was now living in Benicia, California, which was just over an hour’s drive away from Stockton. Talk about a stroke of good fortune!

But now we’ve got to ask — how did Michelle and Zoey get separated in the first place? Were they together long prior to the dog’s disappearance in 2010? The Benicia resident went into more detail on that front while speaking in a video on the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office’s Facebook page.

Michelle says, “We got [Zoey] at the pound when she was six months old, [along with] her twin sister. You know, we saw them there and brought them home. They were with us for about six months, and then we went to the store for about 20 minutes. [When we] came back, she was missing.”

That must’ve been immensely tough for Michelle and her family. After all, when an animal goes missing like that, the stress can be overwhelming. Will they ever be found? Sticking with that subject, we’re curious — what are the numbers like for owners reuniting with lost dogs? Are they high or low?

Well, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals did some digging over a period of five years for a report. The organization, otherwise known as the ASPCA, then shared the figures online after speaking to members of the public. The results might catch you off guard, so prepare yourselves, folks!

Based on the responses of the people the ASPCA spoke to, it seems that more than 90 percent of dogs who went missing during that five-year period were found by their families. That’s an encouraging number, wouldn’t you agree? But it wasn’t all positive. According to the report, 15 percent of people ultimately couldn’t reunite with their missing animal. That last stat refers to all pets, not just dogs.

And here’s another thing to consider. Timing is everything when it comes to the success stories. As per the website My Pet Needs That, the first day marks your best hope of locating a missing pooch. The figure stands at roughly 90 percent. Beyond that, though, the numbers will start to dwindle very quickly.

Michelle and company must have feared that as the days continued to pass without finding Zoey in 2010. We wouldn’t blame them for feeling disheartened. Anyway, what could have prompted the dog to run away from the house to begin with? My Pet Needs That noted a few potential explanations.

The website suggested that some canines will bolt regardless of how happy they are at home. If they sense a chance “to escape from a confined space,” the animal may well take it. That might line up with Zoey’s story — as Michelle said, she wasn’t in the house when her pet disappeared. No one could stop her from leaving.

“Panic” was another possible reason flagged up by My Pet Needs That. Apparently, if something spooks a dog badly enough, they may dart from their homes in an effort to control their emotions. Could that have happened with Zoey? As for the third explanation, the website discussed “wanderlust” in canines.

The term is pretty self-explanatory — it describes a dog’s drive to explore the outside world and wander the land. The site revealed that wanderlust won’t just disappear because a pooch has been tamed. It’ll always be there. So, is it possible that Zoey gave in to this impulse before leaving her family?

Much like Michelle and her clan, all we can do is speculate. But regardless of how or why Zoey went missing back then, a reunion was finally on the cards in February 2022. Yes, following her conversation with the San Joaquin Sheriff’s Office, the Benicia resident hopped in her car right away.

Michelle traveled to the neighborhood outside Stockton and met with Brandon, who was still there. By this stage, the animal services officer had loaded Zoey up in the back of a vehicle, where she was resting on a blanket. As for what happened next, the San Joaquin Sheriff’s Office filmed the remarkable reunion.

The clip begins with Michelle standing back on the sun-kissed street, as Brandon opens the caged door. She then slowly approaches Zoey, who tentatively turns her head to look outside. Her old owner goes on to give her a warm rub, marking the end of 12 years of uncertainty. They’ve been reunited!

From here, Michelle continues to caress Zoey before making an observation. She tells Brandon, “She didn’t grow much! Aw, she’s so cute.” A short time later, the dog gets moved into the back of her owner’s car. Now, she’s snuggling on a pillow along with the blanket and looking pretty relaxed.

Thanks to Michelle’s immediate response, Zoey won’t be heading to a dog shelter. Instead, she’s going to see her family again — albeit in very different surroundings! Plus, there’s another change the pooch will have to prepare for as well. Her owners didn’t stand still over the decade-plus they were apart.

Michelle says, “We have one other dog [at home]. He’s also 13. He’s just a little lab, and very friendly.” What we’d give to see to that interaction. Zoey’s on course to receive a lovely reception once she arrives in Benicia! The family has 12 years worth of pent-up affection to shower her with.

The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office shared this heartwarming clip on social media back in February 2022. And it’s fair to say that it generated plenty of attention online. Yep, at the time of writing, the video has earned over 120,000 views. Facebook users just can’t get enough of it.

In addition to that, the clip has also brought in close to 3,500 likes and garnered more than 250 comments on Facebook, too. Lots of those messages are incredibly positive, as people hailed the unlikely reunion between Michelle and Zoey. Brandon Levin’s role in this memorable tale wasn’t exactly forgotten, either.

One user wrote, “Thank you so much officer Levin for saving this dog. I hope with all of my heart that this sweet little girl gets all of the love, hugs, and kisses that she so deserves, and lives a happy and safe life with her owner.” Another person concurred with that stance.

“Thanks to San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office for making this happen!” a Facebook user beamed. “And [I’m] glad Zoey is reunited with her family! I pray that she heals and feels safe back with [them].” There were many other comments that echoed those sentiments, but one more stood out from the crowd.

Yep, a social media user highlighted the importance of Zoey’s microchip. After all, we need to remember how vital that was in getting her back to Michelle. The person then went on to flag up their own experiences with the technology, as they nearly lost their dog in the past.

The user wrote, “Thank God the rescue [Zoey] came from as a pup had chipped her. The value of a chip is beyond words. My pup bolted after a rabbit not long ago, got lost in his excitement and I was losing my mind searching the whole area for him.”

This person continued, “[It] turns out [my dog] covered about four miles in less than an hour when he wound up in a nice man’s garage at about 11 p.m. [He then] took him straight to an emergency vet to be scanned. The whole neighborhood was messaging me that he’d been found. He now wears a strong tracking device.”

Anyway, Zoey and Michelle’s story was soon picked up outside social media as well. Notable outlets such as the BBC, People, CBS News, and the Today website all covered the tale. It even reached Australia’s 9News station, too. The dog was making global headlines! Who could possibly have seen that coming?

As for Michelle, she shared some final thoughts about the crazy situation in the Facebook video. Basically, the Benicia resident outlined her hopes for lovely Zoey, as she looked ahead to the future. The dog owner also reflected on her response to the unforgettable reunion that day in February 2022.

Michelle says, “Honestly, I’m still in shock! I definitely didn’t expect this to ever happen, so I’m really excited. [I’m] excited to bring [Zoey] back, get her healthy, and, well, let her live the rest of her life.” Welcome words, wouldn’t you agree? We get the feeling that they’re not going to waste this second chance.