After 9 years, New Freedom woman reunites with her lost dog

A New Freedom woman got a big surprise last week.

After almost nine years, Alexis Regula was reunited with her toy fox terrier, who had disappeared from her yard in 2011 while Regula was living in Tennessee.

“I am still completely in shock about the whole thing,” Regula said Friday. “I just can’t believe it.”

She said the dog, Lucy, has quickly readjusted to being back home.

“Once I gave her a bath, she started running around and playing with toys and the kids and our other dog,” Regula said. “Her tail has been wagging a mile a minute, just like I remember."

When Lucy disappeared in October 2011, Regula immediately searched the local shelters near Clarksville, Tennessee, and posted messages on Craigslist in a fruitless effort to locate the dog.

Later that year, Regula moved back to Pennsylvania and had pretty much given up hope of ever seeing Lucy again.

But on the evening of Sept. 8, her mother, Ame Kessler, received an unexpected call from an animal control official in Tennessee telling her Lucy had been located. 

The dog was identified after officials scanned her microchip. Kessler, a Humane Society police officer who runs Aglyphic Creatures Rescue in the Red Lion area, said she was the secondary contact because her daughter’s phone number had changed.

“It’s almost like a miracle, but this is the reason why you should always microchip your dog and never give up hope and always update your information on your microchip,” Kessler said. “They think somebody had her and they just kept her, and no vet down there ever scanned her microchip.”

Kessler said a group called Forever Changed Animal Rescue in Maryland helped set up the return of the dog. A volunteer group called Pilots N Paws flew Lucy into York Airport last Thursday afternoon, where the dog was reunited with Regula and her mother. 

Lucy will be 11 years old in November.

“She’s a little thin, but she’ll be OK,” Regula said.

— Ron Musselman can be reached at rmusselman@yorkdispatch.com or via Twitter at @ronmusselman8.