While the rest of the dogs at BARC -- the city of Houston animal shelter and adoption facility -- barked loudly Sunday, a dog named Roxy kept her cool, almost as if she knew it was her lucky day.
Roxy is not a stray, but she was found Friday on the streets of southwest Houston.
An animal control officer discovered her and she was taken to the shelter, scanned and identified by the microchip implanted beneath her skin.
"When she was scanned for a microchip, we discovered that she had an owner," said Ashton Rivet, BARC brand development coordinator.
That owner lives in Allentown, Pennsylvania -- some 1,400 miles away.
When the owner received the call that Roxy had been found, he was incredibly relieved. He told the shelter that his dog had been driven all the way to Houston by his grandchild, who did not have consent to take her.
Without that microchip she might never have made her way back.
"Microchips are the answer," Rivet said. "It is absolutely the difference between being reunited and not being reunited with them."
The owner worked with BARC to get all of Roxy's requirements met. Sunday, BARC put her onto a plane bound for Newark, New Jersey where her owner was anxiously awaiting her arrival.
She made it there around 4:30pm and spent the rest of the night receiving a lot of attention.
Accustomed to stories about overcrowding and the need for more adoptions, Roxy's is the kind of story that the members of the BARC staff wish they could share every day.
"We're elated," Rivet said. "It's wonderful."
For more information about microchipping and how you can get your pet chipped, click here.
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