DENVER — Panda the bull terrier is one very lucky dog after going missing from his Colorado home for more than two years.
Workers at an animal shelter in Topeka, Kansas – located more than 500 miles away from Denver – recently found Panda and scanned his microchip. That's how they realized he lives in another state.
Helping Hands Humane Society said Panda was just hanging out with another dog when they found him in town on Aug. 18.
"He was very fearful here and wasn’t able to be at handled by staff at all. He’d had some pretty serious injuries and we were just at a loss for this poor guy and how to help him because he wouldn’t let anyone get close to him. After a few days, our intake department was able to safely scan him for a microchip and found that he had owners!" the shelter wrote in a Facebook post.
When the shelter reached out to Panda's parents, who were listed on his microchip, they realized the owners have been looking for him for more than two years.
His owners, Diana Luna and Hector Rojo, said they have no idea what Panda, their 7-year-old dog, has been up to for the past two years since he was lost – or even how he got to Kansas. They're just happy to have him home.
"I wish he could just bark and tell us so that we could understand," Luna said. "¿Panda, que estabas haciendo todo este tiempo?"
Panda's owners have another bull terrier dog who looks just like Panda with similar black and white markings. Her name is Nala. They said two years ago, Panda and Nala left the house together to go outside, and only Nala returned home.
"Where he has been for the last two years and how he made it from Colorado to Kansas is a mystery to all of us," the shelter wrote on Facebook. "Our staff let them know that he would need a little tender loving care as he adjusted back into their family. They drove up right away, driving all weekend long from Colorado and reclaimed him from Helping Hands Humane Society this last Sunday."
The shelter noted that once Panda "sniffed his family and heard the language he was familiar with, he brightened right up and was so excited!"
"He transformed into a totally different dog than the one we had seen the last week. He even let the staff who had been trying to work with him pet him once he knew he was finally back with his family," the shelter said.
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