Family reunites after three years with their microchipped pup in Georgia – 102.3 KRMG

A happy reunion three years in the making shows just how important microchipping is for pets.

Three years ago, holiday fireworks prompted Pomeranian puppy Teddy to sprint away from home.

Fast forward to this week.

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A friendly stranger spotted Teddy running alone and decided to pick him up. This started the path of a very emotional reunion.

“Fortunately, some Good Samaritan traveled down the road and saw the dog and brought him here and we were able to scan him,” said Vernon Sawyer, Gwinnett County Animal Welfare Director.

“Everything fell into place,” he tells KRMG’s sister station WSB in Atlanta, GA.

Sawyer says Teddy’s microchip, a rice grain-sized piece of technology containing a unique ID number, allowed them to reunite the dog with his humans; Elementary school age mother, father and sister.

Did Teddy remember her?

“The staff put the dog on the floor as they brought him to the room where the family was waiting,” says Sawyer.

“This dog walked right up to the mother. They cried, my co-workers cried, I cried. It was easy, it was a beautiful moment.”

Sawyer says they helped reunite about 500 pets and families in Gwinnett County this year alone, most of them because they were microchipped. The chips can go in pretty much any animal with a lot of skin, he explains. The procedure does not require anesthesia.

“In most places, you can get it done for anywhere from free to about $25.00,” says Sawyer.

Handheld scanners are carried by Gwinnett Animal Shelter officials, who will sometimes see a pet trotting about and will stop their vehicle to scan it and drop the animal off at their home. Sawyer says it’s especially important to microchip outdoor cats. They are also used when someone is attempting to adopt another person’s animal as their own, and law enforcement can call an animal welfare officer to the scene of the crime to scan it on the spot and prove ownership.

“It’s cheap, it’s reliable and it’s a great option if your pet is lost, it’s an opportunity for your pet to be returned,” he says.