Dog News

Lost Dog flies over 900 Air Miles to Reunite with Family

by Katherine

Life With Dogs is reader-supported. We may earn a small commission through products purchased using links on this page.

No one will ever know how Philia (or Phelia), a lost dog from Austin, Texas, ended up in Illinois’s McHenry County Animal Control, but thanks to Lost Dog of Illinois (LDOI), Lost Dogs of Texas (LDOT), Delta Airlines, and Home Again microchip company, the travelling canine is back home.

140911-Philia

The one-year-old Siberian Husky got lost in July and two weeks later she was picked up in Illinois. Because the canine had an active microchip, animal control was able to contact Jodi, Philia’s owner, and inform her Philia was safe and sound in the Midwestern state.

Austin and Chicago are 981 air miles, or 1,164 car miles apart. The dog couldn’t have made this trip on her own four legs, but we will never know how she made it to the land of Lincoln.

Jodi who is hearing impaired, had no way to get Philia back home, but a team of animal lovers worked together to reunite her with her loving dog.

Veterinarian Lisa Lembke, with animal control contacted LDOI for help, and they reached out to LDOT. During five weeks, both organizations planned on how to get Philia back home. Air transport was too expensive for the volunteer-based organizations, animal control or Jodi to pay for, and a transport road trip was also too difficult to organize.

When Home Again, the microchip company Philia’s chip is registered with, heard about the canine’s unbelievable journey they offered to pay for her air transport. Thanks to their generosity and Delta Airline’s “Summer Live Animal” program, on Sept. 9, 2014, the Siberian Husky made it home.

Jody was overjoyed to have her dog back in her arms. “I’m very excited to see my dog again. I’m really emotional,” she told WGN News.

Read the original story published by The Examiner to learn transport details, and watch the reunion video below.