Missing dog reunited with family after 8 years: ‘I think he really remembers us’

HIVITA, Can. – Eight years. That’s how long it took Nicole Leon to reunite with her lost dog, a beagle named Roscoe.

The 41-year-old mother from Wichita, Kansas, said Roscoe went missing in early 2015 from his home.

“I was away, I came home, and he’s gone,” Leon told FOX. “I feel like someone stole it from our backyard or it got away and whoever found it kept it or sold it.”

Leon said there was no sign that Roscoe had dug his way out of the yard. She called various shelters and animal control agencies, but to no avail. Luckily, Roscoe was collared and microchipped.

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“My kids were sad,” she continued. “We’ve all been.”

In January 2023, a phone call changed everything.

Leon received a call from a woman who said she had found her dog. Leon thought the woman was talking about her other dog and not Roscoe.

“I was sleeping and at first I thought one of my dogs had left since I left for work,” Leon said.

But the call came from more than 1,300 miles away, from Caldwell, Idaho.

Leon said that at first she thought the caller must have made a mistake.

“I said, ‘Oh, that’s not my dog. I live in Kansas.” She said he was wearing a blue collar, and I said, “No, my dogs don’t have a blue collar,” she explained.

“But then [I] asked her what kind of dog it was and she said it was a beagle,” Leon continued. “Then I immediately knew that this was my missing dog.”

Leon then arranged for her dog to be transported to Kansas with the help of the Good Samaritans. She finally reunited with him on 15 January.

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To this day, Leon has no idea how her beloved pet ended up in multiple states over the past eight years. Leon said that Roscoe did not have a tag on his collar when he was found, which led her to suspect that it might have been stolen.

She hopes those answers will come, but for now, she’s just glad her family is back safe and sound.

“It’s amazing that he’s back,” she said. “However, it is sad that we missed the last eight years with him. He is such a good dog and I think he really remembers us.”

This story was reported from Los Angeles.