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Dog stolen from Detroit 4 years ago reunited with owner

Shepard mix, Jack, was found with homeless man near Flint

MT. MORRIS, Mich. – It was a call Desirae Cornell never thought she would get.

“She was crying, she almost had me crying,” said Bill Heatley with Streethearts Dog Rescue.

Heatley was called in to help Wednesday night when police were informed of a homeless man having a medical episode near Flint.  That man had a dog with him.

“I saw he had a dog in the car and it just broke my heart,” said Officer Victoria Butcher.

Read: Macomb Township family’s pet parrot stolen from home

After getting the man medical help, Butcher and Heatley got the shepherd mix calmed down and checked him for a microchip, and there it was with all of the owner’s information.

Cornell had rescued her dog she named Jack when he was just a pup. He was chained outside a Detroit home every day.

“I’d grab a Lunchable and go sit outside with the dog and share the Lunchable,” she said.

Jack’s then owners said she could take the dog or they were going to euthanize him. She took him, got him his vaccinations, checked for heart worm, neutered and microchipped.

A few months later, someone got into Cornell’s fenced yard and stole him. She filed a police report but figured he was gone forever.

Over the last four years, she couldn’t bear to get another dog and then she got the call from Heatley Thursday morning.

Cornell and Jack were reunited Thursday night in Mt. Morris. He sniffed her and then proceeded to flop down and make himself at home.

“I never thought I’d ever see him again,” Cornell said.

More: Michigan news


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