After 11 years, a random call about her lost pitbull felt like a prank — until she saw the photo and let out a gasp

Hope can be a powerful thing, and Jourdyn Koziak's story is a testament to that. 11 years ago, she lost her pitbull, Forty-Cal, along with another family dog, from the backyard of her former home in Philadelphia. The other dog came back home after a few days, but Forty-Cal never did. More than a decade later, Koziak has moved house, started a family of her own, but never gave up hope that one day she would finally be reunited with her long-lost dog, reported CBC's As It Happens. She always kept his microchip up-to-date with her information, and it finally paid off on March 21 with one unexpected phone call.

Koziak received a phone call from an unknown man claiming he had found her dog. At first, she thought it was a prank, but the caller assured her that it was her dog. A little girl from Philadelphia found him and brought him home to her parents, and they made hot dogs for him. But since the family had pets of their own, they could not keep him and contacted Animal Control. The people from the Animal Care and Control Team (ACCT) Philly reached out to Koziack with some pictures of the dog to confirm, and the moment she saw the photos, she recognized Forty-Cal from his markings. "I could remember his markings from a mile away. That's him," she said.

Koziak and her family drove from Luzerne County to Philadelphia to get Forty-Cal. The thought of seeing the dog that she bought with her own money when she was just 16 made her extremely emotional, and her hands shook with anticipation. She described the surreal moment she saw Forty-Cal walk down the hall: "I no longer was hearing anyone. I had tunnel vision. The world, everything, the room just shut down around me. The spotlight was on him, and nobody else was around."

She was asked to interact cautiously with Forty-Cal because it might take him some time to remember his old family. But the recognition was almost instant, and it was like the final puzzle piece. "We put our hands out, he sniffed us, and then proceeded to pull us towards the door, like, 'Let's go,'" she said.

Forty-Cal was unwell the first day he returned home, but Koziack said he is "back to his normal self." Even though 11 years have passed, he still acts like a puppy, wagging his tail, and likes to go on walks. She admitted that it makes her sad thinking about all the years she lost with her childhood pet, but seeing him in front of her the moment she wakes up erases all those thoughts. "I never gave up hope because, obviously, I'm relentless," she said, while speaking to Nil Köksal, the host of As It Happens. She compared the feeling of having Forty-Cal next to her like "Christmas morning every day." 

Koziak's story is one of the few with a happy ending. A study was done on 1,015 households that had pets (cat or dog) to see how often they go missing. The findings revealed that at least 14% of dogs and 15% of cats have gone missing in a span of five years. But the results also revealed that dog owners have a higher chance of recovering their pets (95%) compared to cat owners (75%) using the same methods to find them.

Mikayla Allen, the spokesperson of ACCT Philly, wrote in an email about how heartwarming Koziack's story is, reuniting with her long-lost dog, but also reminded pet owners of the importance of microchipping their pets just in case they get lost. An extract from the letter reads, "This reunion is emotional and inspiring, but it’s also an important reminder: microchipping your pet is one of the simplest and most effective ways to help ensure they can find their way back home."

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