This pup’s return was something to bark home about.
An upstate New York grandmother was overjoyed — and in shock — when she was reunited with her long-lost pup more than 10 years after the four-legged fluffball ran off.
Buffalo resident Melanie Epperson thought her adorable pet Snuggles was forever lost when he wandered off 11 years ago while she was moving into a new home, she said in a Saturday interview with local station WKBW.
“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.”
But then her daughter, Chantel Stroud, recently received a message from the City of Buffalo Animal Shelter after Snuggles was dropped off by someone, and his microchip displayed 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.’”
Epperson also thought her daughter was joking with her when she reached out, but was hit with a wave of emotion as she realized it was real.
“I’m just overwhelmed, and I’m still overwhelmed, I just can’t believe he’s back,” the grateful dog mom enthusiastically said.
It’s unclear where Snuggles was in the city for the past decade or how he survived, but Epperson is more focused on making up for lost time.
“I Googled it, and he can live up to 18 years old. So, I have another four to five good years to snuggle Snuggles,” Epperson added.
