April 2 (UPI) — A California woman was reunited with her missing dog after five years thanks to the animals’ implanted microchip.
Michelle Bluestone said her Schnauzer mix, Lola, was adopted from a shelter when the canine was 3 years old in 2018.
She said Lola escaped from the backyard of her Reseda home in 2021.
“It was the worst time of my life,” Bluestone told KTLA-TV. “I went through so much stress. I spent weeks and months looking for her, putting up flyers everywhere. She was microchipped, so I was waiting for a phone call that someone had found her.”
Bluestone said she eventually gave up hope.
“I just assumed that she was just not alive anymore, maybe she got hit by a car, maybe she got eaten by a coyote, I don’t know,” she told CBS Los Angeles.
Her opinion changed in February, when she received a call from an Echo Park shelter saying Lola had been brought in as a stray and scanned for a microchip.
Bluestone said Lola had matted fur, overgrown nails and multiple rotted teeth that needed to be removed, but is otherwise in good health.
“She’s still cuddly, she still likes to be held, belly rubs, you know, her tail wags, she makes these cute little sounds — she’s very much the same dog,” Bluestone said.