‘Happier than any lottery winner,’ was the described feeling of the fortunate Meath family who were reunified with their dog, lost for six months without trace.
The heartbroken family’s hopes of ever finding ‘Spot’ had dwindled over time, with months of unsuccessful searches:
“We’ve had Spot over six years when we got him as a companion for our ten-year old German Shepherd Dora.
“The two dogs were very, very close and spent all their time together.
“Added to this, my son Samuel, nine, was diagnosed with diabetes and was in and out of hospital. Spot picked up on this and rarely left his side either.
“On May 25th last, Spot went off on one of his little strolls and didn’t come back. We searched the countryside, we asked local residents and we even asked people to look out for Spot through the text alert system.
“Weeks went by and no-one saw or heard anything. We missed the little fella dreadfully but began to think we’d never see him again.”
“It was unbelievable.
“It was like a death in the family when he disappeared. The little fella grieved for the dog and the change in him was unreal.
“The German Shepherd went completely off her food, suffered skin inflammations and lost all her hair. She was stressed out by the whole thing.
“Just six months later and Jason got a call he never expected to receive because so much time had passed.
“We got a call from Lynne Archer in Collon Animal Sanctuary in Co Louth saying she scanned a dog’s microchip and it came back registered to me.
“Seemingly someone had picked up Spot near Drogheda thinking he was a stray and held onto him until they had to give him up for allergy issues.
“I couldn’t believe it. I picked him up last Wednesday and had him sitting in the porch when Samuel arrived home from school.
“There were neighbours in to see his reaction and there were tears from everyone. The kids cried, the wife cried and the neighbours cried.
“I brought him to the vet for a check-up and Spot is two kilograms overweight so he definitely was living the life of a lord where he was. He was well looked after.”