Alicia McIntosh thought she’d never see her dog, Corey, again.
The shih tzu escaped from her Washington, D.C., backyard in the fall of 2014. Despite searching the area and calling several shelters, McIntosh wasn’t able to find her dog. In October, she relocated to Texas without Corey.
But then, on Jan. 19, a Montgomery County Animal Services officer found a small, stray dog outside a Safeway in Bethesda. After the dog was brought back to the county’s animal shelter in Derwood, staff scanned the animal for a microchip and found one. According to the information on the chip, the dog belonged to McIntosh.
That connection set up the unexpected reunion between Corey and McIntosh that took place Jan. 28 at the Derwood shelter, animal services said. McIntosh, who was delayed in reuniting with her dog due to the blizzard that hit the Washington area from Jan. 22 to 24, could be seen in a YouTube video scooping up Corey, who seemed equally delighted, inside a waiting room at the shelter. Corey licked her face.
“I missed you so much!” McIntosh says. “I was so shocked you guys actually found him, I had to fly all the way back from Texas to come get him. He’s been our family pet forever.”
She said the fact that an animal services officer found her dog was “the blessing that came true.”
On a bittersweet note, animal services officials said a Maryland family had been caring for Corey until he escaped from their home and was found in the grocery store parking lot. Animal services officials said the family was disappointed to learn that Corey had another owner, but “understood” that McIntosh would be contacted with the news that her dog had been found.
McIntosh told animal services officials a “doggie cake” would be waiting for Corey when he returned with her to Texas.
