Six months ago, a stray dog was brought in to the Washington County Animal Shelter in Tennessee after the pit bull mix had been spotted wandering the streets, presumably in search of a place to sleep.
“He was a happy-go-lucky dog,” Tammy Davis, the shelter’s executive director, told The Dodo . “He was a little shy at first, and he wasn’t very fond of all the other dogs being around him, but he was extremely affectionate to people and very loving to the staff.”
The dog, who staff dubbed “Bones”, was brought in to the shelter around the same time as the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Because of this, the facility was forced to close its doors to visitors and potential adopters in an effort to curb the spread of the deadly disease.
That also meant that for the next several months, Bones would remain alone in his kennel without any adoption prospects. But as it turns out, this was actually in the pup’s best interest.
On October 12, the shelter shared a video of Bones to its Facebook page in an effort to try and get him some much-deserved attention.
“Not only will Bones play Fetch, he will bring it back and lay down with it, then will gently roll it to you,” the clip explains. “Best game ever!!”
While that video received a few comments from people inquiring about the pup, one comment stood out from the rest. It read, “That’s my boy his name is Blue!”
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As it turns out, Blue (formerly known as “Bones”), went missing from his Tennessee home in March.
His owner, Pat, who lived in the state at the time, searched all over for his beloved boy, but was sadly unable to find him. And when he had to move to Texas for work, he was forced to abandon his search, believing he’d never be reunited with Blue again.
That is, until a friend sent him a video of his dog playing with a ball at a shelter.
Pat immediately got in touch with the shelter to get his dog back, but before that could happen, they needed some way to confirm that their “Bones” was, indeed, his “Blue”.
Incredibly, it all came down to the missing pup’s favorite pastime: fetch.
“Blue’s favorite toy in the shelter was a blue squeaky ball and in our video, he was playing with that ball,” Davis told The Dodo . “Once we started the conversation with the owner he said, ‘Yes, I have pictures of my dog.’ He sent us pictures of Blue in his home with that same blue ball, which was his favorite toy at home. It was crazy.”
Now that everyone was absolutely sure it was definitely Blue at the shelter, Pat drove 1,200 miles from Texas to Tennesse to be reunited with his boy.
In an emotional video posted to the facility’s Facebook page, Blue can be seen finally getting to smother his favorite human in kisses again after spending 200 days apart.
“It was very obvious that the dog had a bond with that person,” Davis recalled of the reunion. “Blue was shocked for a split second, like, ‘Am I believing my eyes?’ And then it was just immediate kisses and the man was crying, it was great.”
In that clip, an understandably emotional Pat drops to his knees to hold his dog close.
“I’ve missed you so much,” he says, petting the pup with one hand and wiping away tears with the other. “Did you miss me?”
Judging from Blue’s reaction, it’s safe to say he certainly did.
“We wish that every animal could have a happy ending like that,” Davis said. “It makes all of our hard work worth it to be able to have moments like this.”
