WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A lost dog is back home after nearly a year, thanks to Facebook.
Sparky, who lived with his family in West Palm Beach, got out through an unlocked fence last year.
“My husband passed away 11 years ago and he was with us through all that, so he’s been a big part of our family,” Raulerson told WPTV.
It was the first time in 16 years that Lisa Raulerson had been without her precious companion.
Sparky was such a big part that he went on out-of-state vacations with her, until last October.
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Raulerson was at a cottage in West Palm Beach, when she left the gate open by mistake on one rainy day and Sparky escaped, WPTV reported.
She said she looked for her pet for a week or two.
She and her daughter posted flyers and offered a reward, but because Sparky, who was 15 at the time, was partially deaf, Raulerson and her family thought Sparky had probably died, Raulerson told WPTV.
But Sunshine State Westie Rescue had recently posted a photo of a dog that looked just like Sparky.
Apparently, Sparky was picked up as a stray and the rescue group got him out of an animal shelter before they put him down. He was matted and dirty but Raulerson knew it was her beloved dog.
But a spokesperson for the rescue group doesn’t think he was alone the entire year.
“We think that a 16-year-old, nearly deaf dog had to be picked up by someone and cared for until he got away or was dropped off somewhere and picked up by animal control,” Bev O’Keefe told The Miami Herald. “It would be great if we had more rescues like this one.”