92-year-old reunites with beloved dog who went missing. ‘Sweet as you’d imagine’
A senior dog was “lost and alone” — then came a heartwarming reunion in North Carolina.
“A 92-year-old man had been searching for him ever since a broken screen door led the blind pup to toddle off on his own,” an animal shelter wrote July 15 in a Facebook post. “These two had spent over a decade together, sleeping side by side every night. Thanks to a little teamwork and a lot of hope, we were able to reunite them. The moment was as sweet as you’d imagine.”
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) of Wake County shared the emotional update after Denim the dog had been missing for more than two weeks.
“He and his owner have spent every day by each other’s side, best buddies, that kind of thing,” Mady Thielemann, a shelter spokesperson, told McClatchy News in a phone interview.
The 13-year-old Yorkshire terrier’s life took a turn after his family moved to Raleigh. In June, he slipped out of his new home, leading to heartbreak and a search for clues.
“By the time they realized that the screen door had broken ajar, he was nowhere in sight,” Thielemann said. “The family was really, really upset because he has been a huge part of their life.”
Then one day, a family member saw a post about Denim on the shelter’s website. The SPCA doesn’t know how far he got from home but said he was dehydrated after he was picked up as a stray.
The family rushed to the shelter to see Denim again. The dog had been “shut down” at a foster home, but “perked right up” when his loved ones arrived, according to Thielemann.
“It was really, really rewarding to see,” Thielemann said. “Because of course he’s blind. So the moment didn’t hit until he smelled them.”
The 92-year-old owner wasn’t there for the initial reunion, but the family surprised him at home. Denim also has a new canine sibling, Hermes, which the family had adopted to accompany the man while his beloved Yorkie was missing.
“Reunions like this don’t always happen,” Thielemann said. “So it’s really rewarding that it did.”
Denim had a microchip, a device that stores pet owners’ contact information. But the phone number on his was incorrect, so the shelter encourages people to keep theirs up to date in case their animals get lost.
This story was originally published July 17, 2025 at 8:01 AM with the headline "92-year-old reunites with beloved dog who went missing. ‘Sweet as you’d imagine’."
