Dog lost in Florida 8 years ago is returned to Missouri family. ‘Same great snuggler’

Eight years after he went missing, a pit bull named Harley was reunited with his family living halfway across the country, authorities said.

In 2013, Betsy DeHaan adopted Harley from Lee County Domestic Animal Services in Fort Myers, Florida, but within about a year, Harley disappeared, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office said.

“We searched and cruised and looked and put up posters and sent out the wanted, missing pet and just never stopped looking for him,” DeHaan told WINK News.

Still, Harley was nowhere to be found, and in the years that followed, the family moved to Gainesville, Missouri, according to WINK News and the sheriff’s office. They never got another dog.

Over the holiday weekend, a local family spotted a brown pit bull in a neighborhood 15 miles south of downtown Fort Myers, authorities said.

Not knowing what to do, the family texted Angie Bray, a volunteer at a local animal rescue center, and sent a video, Bray told McClatchy News.

“When I got the dog, it was so much worse than the video. His nails were so overgrown they were bending to the sides when he walked, and he was just skin and bone,” Bray said.

Still, the dog, later identified as Harley, was “so sweet and so happy, all he wanted was love and attention,” she said.

Bray took Harley to a local place to be scanned for a microchip, she recalled. Following information from the microchip, Bray and the veterinarian identified DeHaan as Harley’s owner.

When Bray contacted her, DeHaan was hesitant but quickly realized that Harley was really found, she told WINK News.

“This is like a miracle. I can’t believe he’s been found,” DeHaan told Bray.

The reunion was years in the making.

“Everyone was so shocked,” Bray said. She was in tears “thinking about being separated from one of our dogs for eight years.”

Harley stayed at the local animal control facility until DeHaan could drive the 1,200 miles to pick him up, Bray said.

“I can never thank you enough!” DeHaan commented on the sheriff’s office’s Facebook post. “Harley and I made it home. ... He’s still the same great snuggler he always was!”

McClatchy News reached out to Betsy DeHaan for comment but did not get a response.

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