Missing Pit Bull Comes Home After Three Years

A missing pit bull reunited with his owner Sunday night after being gone for three years.

When Smoke, the 65-pound pit bull, finally arrived to Huntington Beach, his owner Eric Hough stroked and him and said, “Yeah, you remember, don’t you?”

“Are you happy to be home, buddy?” Hough asked.

Smoke went missing three years ago when Hough lived in Florida. He disappeared the same time his female roommate was asked to leave.

At the time, he believed that his roommate stole his dog, so he called the police. The 30-year-old even followed the woman, but he wasn’t able to find his dog.

Last month, authorities in Cocoa, Fla. found the missing pit bull on the street and brought him to a shelter. They found a microchip in the dog that brought up the name name Eric Hough, but neither of the two phone numbers listed worked.

Luckily, a local woman, who ran a website that helped reunite pets with owners, posted a story about Smoke online. Ryan Gamache, a volunteer with the Missing Pet Partnership, saw the story and wanted to help.

“I love those hard cases, so I picked it up,” he said. “It took quite a bit of effort to find Eric, and then it was even harder to get him to sit down and listen.”

Gamache was able to get in contact with Hough through Facebook. Hough volunteered to go down to Florida to pick up his missing pit bull, but volunteers told him that they would transport the dog to his home.

Heather McNally, a transport coordinator for a nonprofit called Kindred Hearts, and 20 other volunteers drove the dog from Florida to California in four days.

Hough is very happy to have his dog back in his life again and plans to take him on walks along the beach every day.

[Image via Facebook]