As I was grilling on my deck, my 3lb Chihuahua, Bella, was enjoying the last leg of summer by running and playing in my fenced in back yard. After a bit I realized she hadn’t come up in a while, which means she inevitably crawled under the fence again to go explore the neighborhood, like she sometimes does. I walked down the block looking for her, as she is pretty good at staying within the same path we walk every day. There was no sign of her so I kept looking, and waiting for her to come back.

An hour passed and now I am in full on panic mode but keeping it together trying to remain calm and positive. I alerted PetLink that she had been “missing” for an hour. Rolling into hour 2 of her missing, I was still walking around the neighborhood, yelling her name. I then got my bike and cycled around the neighborhood. Mind you we live in a busy neighborhood of Chicago, so I am hoping for the best but preparing for the worse.

At this point I am exhausted, mentally and physically. So I lay on my bed to call my mom and told her the bad news that Bella is missing. As I am trying to explain to my mom what happened, I got a text on my phone from PetLink with four critical words – “Bella has be found!”

I called the phone number provided and the extremely helpful operator connected me to a Chicago Firefighter who had Bella! It turns out the little Diva went for a joy walk to a carnival 7 blocks from my apartment. Two women were able to catch her and take her to the nearest firehouse where the individual who had her noticed her PetLink collar tag – which I had just put back on her an hour before she went missing! He called PetLink and I was able to be reunited with Bella after only 3 fearful hours! In a city as large and heavily traffic populated as Chicago, this never would have happened if it wasn’t for PetLink!

I am forever thankful to all the kind individuals who found little Bella, and for PetLink for providing such a great service for people to be reunited with their loved pets!