05/17/2026
This is an update we promised but we have been so busy we’re very behind on our write ups. Lots of twists and turns so stay with us on this one…
We trapped this beautiful boy by accident while hoping to trap another lost dog named Finnegan.
Our cameras started sending photos in the a.m. hours showing a coyote sniffing around the trap. They never go in, thank goodness, but occasionally they’ll show up just being curious. Just a couple of hours later this big guy shows up on camera and he of course loves the bait we use and proceeds to go right into the trap.
We didn’t release him because we were told by residents in the area early on that there was a husky mix running around that they had been seeing for a couple of weeks. He also had a collar on so we assumed he was a lost pet and we wanted to keep him safe and look for an owner.
We scanned him for a microchip and he had one so we contacted the person he was registered to. They were shocked as it turns out they had lost him in Mt Holly 2 years prior. They adopted him from the Cleveland County Animal Shelter and he was neutered and chipped to them. So they were elated to get this call and we met with them that same day and turned him over to them. He didn’t seem to know them or respond to his name Killua but it had been 2 years and they only had him for 6 months when he was lost so that was understandable. They had searched in the area he was lost (at a park) everyday for two weeks and thought that they would just never find him again.
We got him posted on social media lost & found groups immediately even before we had a chance to scan him but once we found he had a chip and reunited him we updated our posts.
Fast forward to a few days later and someone is commenting on our post that this was her dog and that he belonged to her. She had photos to prove it and we initially thought she had found him after he was lost from the couple he was microchipped to. He had a collar on and was very well fed so it was obvious someone was helping him, but then she sent puppy photos of him and his microchip information and his whole backstory. She had him since he was a puppy but had lost him around 2-1/2 years ago and unknowingly to her during that period he ended up at the Cleveland County Shelter and got adopted out. So when he was lost after being adopted he was eventually found and reunited with his original owner via fb posts. She never knew he had been at the shelter and adopted out.
Now you’re all probably wondering about the original microchip that she had implanted when he was a puppy at his time of neuter and we’re wondering about that as well 🤔 We scanned him multiple times all over his body and never found a second microchip and apparently when he landed at the shelter they didn’t find that microchip either. We are assuming that it migrated out because it’s definitely not there.
So this was a very unique situation. The original owner was away at the time when we found him and was working in another state while her relative was caring for Nate (that’s his name that she had given him). She was unaware that he had been roaming for quite awhile and thought he had escaped the fence the day before.
We spoke with her and felt the right thing to do was to connect both owners and let them work it out.
Ultimately, the second owners made the hard decision to let Nate go back to his original owner. This was not easy for them as they loved him too and watched him begin acclimating back into their home but as hard as it was they felt this was the right thing to do.
So we collected Nate and took him to the first owner’s parents house (different relatives than the one who was caring for him while he was lost & roaming).
Nate was confused and trembling on the way there. He’s a big boy but such a baby and so sweet. We were relieved to see that his whole demeanor changed when he saw his Grandma. He definitely knew her and that happy tail starting wagging. We walked him inside and we could just see the tension leaving his body and how happy he was to be in a familiar place and back with his family.
We are hopeful Nate will stay safe and although he was listed on the microchip info as an 8 yr old Norwegian Elkhound he is actually a 6 yr old Husky and Pitbull mix (one parent was a Pit and the other was a Husky) and we know how Huskies are escape artists.
Nate’s owner was arriving home a couple days later and planning to take him back with her to Florida.
So this is a good reminder to have your pets scanned during their yearly checkups just to be sure the chip is still there and easy to locate!
Happy Tails Nate
🐾❤️🐾
