Emotional Reunion With Dog After Being Missing for 12 Days

Occurred on December 1, 2020 / Chula Vista, California, USA

Info from licensor: "On 11/19/20 at 13:30 hours, I noticed our Bichon 'Konu' was struggling to drink/eat I placed my finger between his then long curly hair and collar. Since it was so tight I decided to remove his collar until I could replace it or get him groomed. I put him in the backyard and left for work. Our gardener came about 13:45 hours and accidentally let him out of the yard without telling us. At 19:30 hours my wife came home from work, noticed Konu was missing and called me frantic. I had posters within a 1/4 mile radius of our home that night. On 11/23/2020 I got a call from a Neighbor responding to one of our posters. The Neighbor stated that on 11/19/20 She and her husband actually saw Konu running across the street and picked him up. They then noticed a car parked across the street and a woman got out of her car showing concern for Konu because she also observed him running across the street. That lady told our neighbors that she would gladly take Konu and walk door to door in search of us. Our Neighbor believed her and handed Konu over. During my conversation, I asked my neighbor if she could describe the vehicle and where she was parked. She said it was an SUV and that she’s pretty sure they were in our area delivering a package. I then went to the house she thought received the package and asked if they got a package on 11/19/20 and if so who was the courier? We went back after a few days on 11/26/20 we apologized for coming on Thanksgiving Day but we needed to know if they questioned their kids about a delivery on 11/19/20. She said that her son did get a package from Sephora on that date at the time Konu went missing. I then asked if they knew which courier company delivered the package so I could track down the driver. They didn’t know but the son said we could have the box that was delivered. I thanked him and went to work by locating the tracking number and using his order number. Once I found out the courier was OnTrac I then called their corporate office and pretended to be the owner of the package, told them I had a video clip of their driver physically taking the Dog. I was transferred to a higher level supervisor and he said he would contact the local San Diego Office and follow up with their supervisor to find out who the driver was. Since it was the weekend we had to wait for three more days to find out the results. That Monday 11/30/20 at 07:30 hours I got the call from OnTrac San Diego branch and was told that 'Yes our driver has the dog and wants to meet later that day to return him'. My heart filled with joy & anxiety and I asked 'So you're telling me he’s safe and she really has him'. 'Yes', she said. I then asked 'can you tell me why she kept him for 11 days without any effort to return him, check shelters or return to our area in search of posters which I put up that night?' Her reply was 'she has two dogs and was taking care of him'. She went on to say I would get a call from the driver to set up a meet. I waited for two hours, still no call. I called back the supervisor and told her 'I’m still waiting on the call. Can you just give me her direct number?' She gave it to me I made the call and was told she would bring him to our home at 2000 hours that night. Well, that didn’t happen so at 2015 hours I called her back and asked when she was coming. She postponed the meet until 12/01/20 at 0700 hours the next day. I told her that I had serious concerns and if something happened to him or she just told her boss she has him to save her job. That I don’t have time for games just tell me the truth. She had the nerve to get an attitude and say 'you waited this long you can wait one more day.' I became livid and said 'We are currently going through empty nest syndrome, our daughter is off to college, and my wife has been crying for almost two weeks! So I’ll ask again do you have our dog?' She replied 'Yes and he will be there in the AM.' Well, after a sleepless night I finally got a call on 12/01/20 at 0630 hours and it was the driver saying 'I’m here your baby is outside.' I ran downstairs saw my wife in the kitchen cooking breakfast and told her I forgot to take the trash out. She didn’t know I had located Konu and was in contact with the driver and I wanted to surprise her. That’s when the video caught her reaction as he came inside and sat down beside her. Her cry alarmed her 90-year-old mother and that reunion got 1/2 million views in three days."