Her dog went missing in Nebraska 5 years ago. He was found 642 miles away behind a truck stop in Indiana
Inmaculada Jackman never lost hope after her dog vanished, and five years later, he returned home
Sometimes simply holding onto hope when all logic suggests otherwise is enough to rewrite an ending; ask Lincoln resident Inmaculada Jackman. Five years after her dog, Chong, slipped out of her house in 2021, Jackman never stopped looking for him. She held the hope that one day he might still be found. That unwavering belief was rewarded when Chong turned up 642 miles away behind an Indiana truck stop, where they had an emotional reunion, as reported by 1011 NOW on July 25, 2026.
A sudden separation
The ordeal began back in 2021 when Chong managed to escape from Jackman's home in Lincoln, Nebraska. Shortly after his disappearance, someone in town had him microchipped. That didn't help at first, as Jackman couldn't find him. Despite the passing years, she refused to give up, routinely returning to search the streets. "I still looked for him," Jackman said. "We still went to our old neighborhood and drove around and looked to see if we could see anyone walking him or if he was running around somewhere."
Discovered across state lines
Five years later, the search took an extraordinary turn when Chong was spotted huddling behind a truck stop in Indiana, roughly 642 miles away from his home. Rescuers scanned his microchip, which provided the single crucial lead pointing straight back to Nebraska. So, the shelter decided to post about Chong online, hoping its owners would respond. Thankfully, a friend of Jackman saw the post and sent it to her. The moment she saw the post, Jackman reached out to the shelter and explained her unique situation.
The waiting period
However, Jackman didn't reunite with Chong right away, because the local rules required a mandatory three-day hold period before he could be placed for adoption. The shelter staff, alongside Jackman, held their breath, hoping no one else showed up to lay claim to the dog. Nonetheless, once those three days passed without any incident, Chong officially became eligible to return home to his original family. Jackman then started her long drive to Indiana to reclaim her lost pet.
A family reunion
Alongside Jackman, Chong's canine brother, Che Che, also tagged along. Once they reached the shelter, it took a few minutes for Chong to recognize the pair before the connection clicked. Now back in Lincoln with her family whole again, Jackman offers a simple lesson from their five-year journey: "Never lose hope. It’s been five years, and we found him." That said, the microchip played a crucial role in Chong's safe return to his home; in fact is is something that has helped a lot of strays return to their owners.
The microchip advantage
A landmark study published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA) analyzed over 7,700 animals across 53 shelters in the United States and found that microchipped stray dogs returned to their owners more than non-chipped ones. Microchipped dogs returned to their families a staggering 74.1% of the time compared to only a tiny fraction of non-chipped pets. This highlights that microchipping remains the single most reliable link to connect pets back to their families.
Reunion feels good
Nonetheless, people were quite happy to see Jackman and Cong reunited, as they took to comments under a post by WRAL (@WRAL5) to express their emotions. @00Locked commented, "What a special little pup. Look how he prances. Happy for him; that howl when he realized his owner was with him says it all." Meanwhile, @Pestoandtomatoomelette noted, "Wait… a random someone chipped a random dog, and he continued on for years? And the chip from the person within the original state is how he got back?! This is a storybook story!"
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