A dog stolen from his owner’s garden two years ago finally made his way back home after an emotional reunion with his favourite human.
Earlier this month, an animal shelter in Ukraine rescued a big, blue-eyed dog from the streets. The poor animal’s thin body and tattered fur made it clear he’d had a tough time living as a stray, but he was given a second chance after being taken in by shelter staff.
Thanks to the wonderful tool that is the internet, the dog and his human found each other again and the moment is enough to melt even the iciest of hearts.
Take a look at the reunion here:
After bringing him to the shelter, rescuers were determined to find the lovely dog the home he deserved. Of course, at this point they had no idea he already had a loving owner.
Staff shared a snap on social media in an attempt to seek out some potential new parents and although the dog didn’t look his best after his time on the streets, his blue puppy dog eyes worked their magic and social media users did their best to help the cause by spreading his photograph far and wide across the internet.
Within hours, the sandy-coloured dog appeared on hundreds of feeds around the world. Someone sent the photo to the woman whose dog had been stolen and after recognising the resemblance to her missing pup she got in touch with the animal shelter.
Galina Lekunova, who works at the shelter, told The Dodo:
She’d been looking for her dog for two years.
She arranged to go and see the dog in an attempt to confirm her suspicions but it didn’t take long for her to know the lovely big dog was Lord, the very same pup who had been cruelly taken from her two years earlier.
The animal’s excitement was evident in his happy tail-wagging and it was clear he couldn’t get close enough to his human as he jumped up to be face-to-face with her.
The shelter shared the video to Facebook, where they thanked everyone who had helped Lord’s reunion with his owner.
They wrote (translated):
We thank everyone who shared our post. Thanks to you the dog’s life was saved, and peace returned to the his owner’s soul!
This is exactly the kind of thing the internet should be used for!
Amazing.
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.