A New York grandmother has expressed immense joy in reuniting with her long-lost dog who ran off some 11 years ago.
Buffalo resident Melanie Epperson believed she wouldn’t be seeing or hearing from her adorable pet Snuggles forever when he wandered off more than a decade ago while she was moving into a new home.
Speaking in an interview with local outlet WKBW, the New York grandmother explained that reuniting with Snuggles after more than a decade was a sight she had taken her mind off due to how long it had been since her dog disappeared.
RELATED STORIES
READ ALSO: White couple gets maximum sentence for enslaving adopted Black children on their farm
“I never thought I’d see him again,” she said.
“I was worried, especially in the winter, because he don’t like even when it’s cold out now. When I take him out, he’s shivering,” she added. “He don’t like the cold.”
Nonetheless, her daughter, Chantel Stroud, recently received a tip from the City of Buffalo Animal Shelter after Snuggles was dropped off by someone, and luckily for Epperson, his microchip showed the family’s contact information.
“I thought it was a prank at first,” Stroud told WKBW.
“When they asked if I knew Snuggles I said, ‘Yeah, that was a long time ago.’ They then asked if I knew Melanie, and I said, ‘That’s my mom.’”
Initially, Epperson thought her daughter was playing a prank on her when she reached out, yet she was hit with a wave of emotion after realizing that her dog was coming back home.
“I’m just overwhelmed, and I’m still overwhelmed, I just can’t believe he’s back,” she enthusiastically said.
Grandmother Epperson’s decision to have a microchip attached to her dog has paid off immensely about a decade later, and she’s sure to enjoy her time with Snuggles this year after reuniting with him.
