It’s a lesson in the beauty of microchipping your dog.
When Bear, a Patterdale terrier, disappeared from Bryan Rapozo’s workplace, he thought his “child” was gone for good. “He doesn’t stray. He doesn’t go anywhere without me…He’s like my son,” the 32-year-old father of two daughters told the News Tribune. “I just want my boy back.”
When bear turned up in a shelter 715 miles away, Rapozo was ecstatic. He made the 13-hour drive from the Sacramento, Calif., area to the Tacoma, Wash., area, and got his little buddy back. Now that they’re together again, he said Bear will not be allowed to watch squirrels in back of his construction workplace (one of his favorite pastimes) unless he’s right there with him. He said he’s putting Bear on “lockdown.” “He’s not going to leave my side,” Rapozo said.
If you know any people who haven’t microchipped their dog, you might want to send them this article. ID tags are removable. Microchips aren’t. When Bear disappeared, he was wearing a brand-new collar and ID tag. It wasn’t on him when he arrived at the Humane Society for Tacoma & Pierce County. Without the microchip, Bear would surely have been lost forever.
