Pennsylvania

Dog Found in Bucks County Reunited With Owners 900 Miles Away

It was late August when a small black and white terrier was found along the side of the road and brought into the Bucks County SPCA in Quakertown as a stray. Turns out, this 4-year-old pup named Fancy had quite a story to tell, if only she could talk. 

A dog who went missing from Alabama has been reunited with her family after showing up in Pennsylvania. The family says they are thankful to have her back after her 900 mile trip.

Four months earlier, her beloved owner, a father of 8 and retired command sergeant in the U.S. Army who had survived an IED explosion in Fallujah back in 1998, was again fighting for his life in a hospital in small town Alabama. Sam Jordan had undergone open heart surgery and was still critical when his wife Pat went home to tend to the animals and wash up, taking a break from her vigil at his side. 

“I let Fancy out on the lead and Mabel, the Great Dane, and they came up missing. When I went back to get them, they weren’t there,” she said. 

Jordan told NBC10 she spent five hours looking for the dogs with neighbors before giving up to get back to her husband. The couple says they are sure someone took the dogs because the leads weren’t broken or damaged or tampered with. Fancy, the pup Sam calls his “hairy daughter,” and Mabel, the black Great Dane, were just gone. 

“I felt like I lost a child when I lost these dogs,” Sam said. “They’re companion dogs for me.” 

Pat says Fancy even alerted her when Sam suffered a stroke, likely saving his life. 
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After months of searching, some good Samaritans came across one of the missing dogs 900 miles away in Pennsylvania, and the journey home was about to begin. 

Protocol for all strays brought in to the shelter is to check them for microchips. 

“I did this as they were still holding her, actually,” Vanly Pierson of the Bucks County SPCA in Quakertown said. 

Turns out the little dog had a chip and it tracked back to the Jordans in Alabama. Pierson made the call to tell them Fancy was found. 

“I just couldn’t imagine how they would have ever gotten to Pennsylvania,” Sam Jordan said. [[393469361, C]]

The couple wanted to travel immediately to get their beloved dog but health issues prevented them from retracing Fancy’s journey. It took a collaboration of many organizations to help reunite her with the Jordans. 

A board member at the Bucks County SPCA, who also volunteers with PilotsNPaws, a nonprofit specializing in long-distance pet reunions, agreed to help fly Fancy part of the way. Two other pilots took the other legs of the trip to get her home. 

On September 12, Fancy was back in Sam’s lap in his wheelchair. 

“I’m humbled to say I cried like a baby,” Sam said. 

Yet while the couple reunited with Fancy, Mabel is still missing. 

“I keep praying every time the phone rings, it will be someone asking about my baby,” Sam said. [[388015272, C]]

He hopes to see Mabel again one day. 

Mabel is also microchipped. She’s a black Great Dane with white on her neck. 

The Jordans and workers at the Bucks County SPCA urge everyone to microchip their animals. It’s the best way to get them back if they somehow get away. As for Fancy, she was lying on Sam’s lap as he talked of her journey from his home in Alabama on Wednesday. Pat says Fancy won’t ever go out alone again.

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