Leo, a two-year-old French bulldog, went missing from a yard in Dearborn in August 2023, and his owner had all but given up on ever seeing him again.
Then late last month, the Detroit Animal Care and Control received a tip about a dog left inside a boarded-up, deteriorating home on the city’s east side. Melanie Fulkerson, an animal control investigator, went to the house and saw the wrinkled-face dog staring at her through a window.
The house was obviously abandoned, but she couldn’t enter the house without a search warrant. For three days, Fulkerson kept checking on the dog, and its curious face looked back at her.
Then on Aug. 23, the city received a search warrant, and when Fulkerson cut the locks on the door, the French Bulldog jumped into her arms.
She scanned the dog for a microchip and discovered the owner’s phone number. The owner, who now lives in Arizona, broke out in tears when Fulkerson called to say her dog, whose name is Leo, had been found.
According to Fulkerson, the owner was living in Ann Arbor at the time and was visiting family in Dearborn when the dog went missing from the backyard.
The owner posted flyers on social media and in Dearborn, but all to no avail.
Fulkerson said there’s a lesson for pet owners.
“It’s important to get your pet microchipped but it’s also important to keep the information attached to the microchip current,” Fulkerson said. “If your pet goes missing, update your microchip to say, ‘my dog or cat is missing.’”
Also in August a South Carolina woman was reunited with her cat after it went missing 11 years ago thanks to a microchip.
Metro Times couldn’t reach Leo’s owner for comment.
