SPOKANE, Wash. – A woman from Nevada was reunited with her Chihuahua in Spokane Thursday four years after he was stolen.
Shelley Irons believes the dog, Keiser, was stolen by a woman who was going to train him.
"She had like four Chihuahuas. I was pregnant, I was moving. She was there and took him from me and she never came back. She took him and her phone was disconnected and wasn't at her residence and she stole him and I don't know if she sold him. I don't know what she did with him," Irons explained.
Irons went to their veterinarian to see if she could track Keiser using his microchip.
"She said, ‘No, somebody has to bring him in and they'll scan him.’ So for four years, I've been checking, asking and waiting for someone to bring him in so I could get him back. But no one ever did," Irons said.
Irons started to give up hope. Then, Shoshanna Alon and her boyfriend Eric found Keiser wandering around in a McDonald's parking lot in Spokane.
"We found him at 10 o'clock at night. It was really late and it was really cold and he was shivering so we're glad we could bring him in and keep him warm," Alon said.
They later had Keiser's microchip scanned and gave Shelley the call she had been praying for.
"I just, I dropped. I was crying because he's not just a dog, he's our family," Irons explained.
Not only was this reunion long overdue, it happened when Irons and her family would need Keiser the most. Shelley's 23-year-old son Christian died just two weeks ago. She said the timing of her reunion with Keiser is a miracle.
"Four years and then two weeks after my son passed away I have Keiser back. When they called me and told me I was like I'll come get him right now. I was crying. I was so happy," Irons said.
On Thursday afternoon, Keiser got a clean bill of health from a local veterinarian. This means he is all clear to fly back home to Nevada with Irons on Friday.