A missing Las Vegas dog has been reunited with his owner nine years after escaping from a backyard. Gizmo is now 11 years old and under the watchful eye of his owner, Judith Monarrez. The chihuahua mix is recovering each day after an emergency veterinarian scanned his microchip last week and helped reunite him with Monarrez.
"To me, it was very shocking," Monarrez said. "Still kind of reeling from it, having him here in my arms." Monarrez received an email notification about her dog being found and immediately called the Animal Emergency Center of Las Vegas who scanned him."They were just like, we have him here," Monarrez said. "We're giving him a bath."
It was a happy moment after a heartbreaking separation back in 2015 when the dog and two others escaped a backyard because of a faulty latch on the family home's gate, according to Monarrez.
"A neighbor saw them, and she managed to wrangle two of our dogs back," Monarrez said. "But there's another person. I don't know if they were driving. I think they were driving by in a car because she (the neighbor) said that she (the driver) left in like a red car, picked him up."
She started a Facebook group to try and find her than 2-year-old pup. She posted over the years even writing she was not giving up hope in 2019. Five years later, she updated the nearly 900 followers that she and Gizmo were reunited when he was dropped off at the veterinarian clinic.
"They told me a lady, a good Samaritan, it was a woman who dropped him off," Monarrez said. "They (the woman) said they spent two months trying to catch him. She wanted him back afterward, but then they told her she couldn't have him because he had a microchip, he was scanned, and we were looking for him. So, it was kind of interesting. Something I thought would've happened years ago."
Monarrez said Gizmo had various ailments and issues from matted fur that required him getting shaved to a dental disease.
"Fractures in his spine," Monarrez said. "He still has ongoing eye infections. Possibly some ear infections."
Monarrez started a GoFundMe page to help cover the costs of the rising veterinarian expenses. She wants to help Gizmo recover as much as possible and make up for lost time together.
The story made the local news all around Nevada. Here are some examples.