Crystal Fentress, of Oklahoma, was reunited with her dog Lela this week after a ten-year separation between them…
The boxer was surrendered to the Oklahoma City Animal Welfare shelter on December 3, and while authorities saw that the dog had been microchipped, they were originally skeptical that they would be able to track down the dog’s rightful owner.
A spokesman for the shelter tells PEOPLE that “things like this don’t often happen,” and that the microchip information “hadn’t been updated since 2009.”
And at first, Lela’s owner was perplexed when she received the phone call since she “didn’t have a missing dog,” according to Epperson’s Facebook post.
Afterward, the owner “instantly broke down” and drove to pick up the dog the next day, according to Epperson.
Following his return to Oklahoma from Texas, Fentress, who was employed as a home health aide, moved into an apartment complex that did not allow dogs, according to an ABC affiliate, KOCO News 5.
Despite the fact that the dog was taken in by one of her patients, Fentress ultimately lost touch with them and was unaware that the dog had gone missing.
Taking to Instagram to document the emotional reunion, Epperson shared a video clip in which Fentress kneels down on the floor as Lela steps out to greet her, followed by a bear embrace from Lela.
“Lela is now confined to her house!!! After ten years of her mother’s longing for her, she was finally reunited with her. Everything is possible because of a little microchip that was inserted 10 years ago,” Epperson remarked accompanying the uplifting clip.
“My heart is overflowing with feelings of love and pleasure. Even the painful portions of my job are enjoyable for me. “It has certainly been an incredible experience,” says the author…
“The phone conversation alone brought tears to my eyes,” Epperson recalls of the emotional reunion in an interview.
She continues, “I’m not sure how I’d feel if my dog was discovered 10 years later, more than two hours away.” Epperson also writes that, before departing with her dog, Fentress gave her a hug and “told me she was very grateful…
“It was hard for me to keep my tears from flowing at that time,” she says. “I’m simply grateful that microchips exist.”
