Missing Dog Declared Dead Returns Home After 10 Years

A Labrador in Pennsylvania that was believed to be dead after suddenly vanishing from the owner’s home 10 years ago, was reunited with its owner after being found alive and well, reports said Friday.

Debra Suierveld, the owner said she had accepted the fact that her black Labrador mix, named Abby, was gone for good after it went missing from her home a decade ago.

In 2008, when her children were playing with the one-year-old Abby outside their Apollo, Pennsylvania home, the dog ran off, never to be seen again, Suierveld said. The family said they searched for Abby and were unable to find her. The family eventually declared the animal dead.

She told the Tribune Live that she and her family had “mourned” their pet after Abby wandered off while playing with her children.

On Jan.30 Abby returned home. That day Suierveld received a call from the Animal Protectors of Allegheny Valley shelter, who said they had tracked Abby down via the dog’s microchip and found her. Abby had been listed as deceased by the vet, who had microchipped her.

“She kind of came back from the dead,” Suierveld told the newspaper. She said her daughter Carly, now a student a Miami University, Ohio started crying upon being told her childhood pet had returned.

“My kids all want to know if she answers to her name,” Suierveld added, saying that she was delighted to learn that Abby still did. “She would lie on the floor and cross her paws, and she remembers my daughter’s commands, and she remembers the commands I taught her,” she added.

“We thought she had passed away,” Suierveld told KDKA, a CBS-affiliate radio station in Pennsylvania. “It feels like a part of my kids’ childhood is back, part of our family is back. It’s pretty awesome.”

Abby was found about 10 miles from her former home on the front porch of a woman named Judy Spiering in Lower Burrell, who contacted the police about the discovery.

Spiering, who noted that the dog was thirsty and “seemed friendly,” called to inform the police, who then notified Animal Protectors, which brought the dog into the shelter that afternoon.

The owner of the Labrador said Abby seemed to be “happy,” and was taken care of in her decade of absence, most likely living in another home.

“Never give up, that's my message,” Suierveld told ABC6. “Never think people are out of your life because they can always come back in dog form.”

Animal Protectors medical manager Jody Berisko also confirmed to Tribune Live that it was clear that the dog was “very well taken care of” during the 10 years that she had gone missing, based on the fact that she is currently happy, in good shape and at a healthy weight.

Abby is currently relatively elderly at 13 years old, and vets said that the dog now has a greying snout and some fatty deposits, but it is otherwise in “very good shape.”