She thought she'd lost her dog forever — until she got a call from animal control six years later
Six years is a long time, right? Your life can take a full 180° turn, transforming you from the inside out. Danielle Jackson, a loving dog owner from Georgia, has experienced it firsthand. When she decided to move out of Cleveland and start a new life in Georgia, she had never imagined that she would lose someone so close to her, and that too, so unexpectedly. Just days before moving out of the city, Jackson's beloved dog, Queenie, surprisingly escaped home and disappeared into the shadows, like a ghost fading from memory. Jackson did everything humanly possible to search for her dog, but nothing worked in her favor until six years later, when the universe finally answered her most desperate prayer.
"Panic set in because I originally got her from a recommendation from my therapist. So losing her was devastating," Jackson shared with CBS42, recalling the unfortunate happening. Without a second thought, she postponed her moving out for a week, hoping that Queenie would eventually return, but that sadly never happened. Eventually, Jackson had to take the painful call of moving out of her place without Queenie, her most treasured companion. Six years went by, and she never heard a thing about her dog, but everything changed when Jenna Halaska, the animal control officer of Cleveland, responded to a call about a stray dog. She noticed the pup had tags from 2016, and when she scanned her microchip, it was revealed that the dog was none other than Queenie.
Thankfully, Jackson had always kept her contact information updated in the database, and Queenie was still registered under her name. So, the Animal Control department of Cleveland didn't have to struggle much to reach out to her. Bruce Campbell, an official from City Dogs, said that one of their volunteers took it on herself to reunite Queenie and Jackson. She not only rescued the dog, but with the help of her dear husband, a pilot, flew her down to her owner. "They worked out all the logistics, and just yesterday, they flew down to Georgia," Campbell said. "I’m like, 'Oh my God.' Someone was like, 'Are you her mom?' and I’m like, 'Yes!' I had to sit down a minute because my heart was racing," Jackson said, talking about her emotional reunion with her dog at the Georgia airport.
Furthermore, Jackson said that she believes it's just pure love that made their reunion possible. "Even with a new baby, there is no aggression. She is even bringing toys and drops them and just stares at her. I have to tell her, ‘She isn’t ready to play with you yet, but we’ll get there,'" she shared, revealing how Queenie quickly accepted a new baby in the house. Meanwhile, Officer Halaska, who was the first to know about Queenie, said they're not sure how she survived all those years alone, but she was certainly fit, and most importantly, she was back with Jackson, who never gave up on his hopes about reuniting with his dog. Well, Queenie was lucky to get her family back, but not all dogs get to experience that. As per a shocking report, more than 10 billion dogs are lost every year, and only 15% of them return to their owners.