My story had a very happy ending within only seven hours. My 80-year-old father-in-law visits my dogs twice a day, every day. Last Wednesday, he went for one of his two daily visits and decided to work on our outside gate. Both dogs were in the backyard at the time, when our six-year-old Samoyed, Luke, decided to bolt.

He ran out of the yard and then stopped two houses down and waited just long enough for my father-in-law to catch up. He decided this was FUN so he ran again. My father-in-law realized that he was not going to be able to keep up with the dog on foot and decided to get his car. Unfortunately, Luke was nowhere to be found.

He called my husband at work who called me since I was closer and the search began. We canvassed our neighborhood, spoke to anyone and everyone we saw, but three hours later we still didn’t have our dog. With the help of family and friends the search continued.

I went to the local SPCA, where we originally adopted Luke. They were more than helpful, giving me his chip number, the PetLink phone number and information on lost animals. Just after 6:30 p.m. when it was getting dark and we were giving up hope, someone from our local animal hospital called and said a Good Samaritan just brought Luke in safely.

They found us because of the chip! Our dog is home safely with his family because of PETLINK and we are eternally grateful. Thank you for bringing our dog home safely and saving us the heartbreak of telling our daughter that her dog was gone!