Imagine the surprise Mandi Smith felt when she received a call that her "chiweenie" dog had been found. Pooka went missing in Kentucky 18 months ago after getting out of the fenced in backyard.
Pooka wasn't found in Kentucky, she was found in New Mexico wandering the streets in Espanola on January 12. As Yahoo News reported today, the Chihuahua-dachsund mix had a microchip. The Smith family, a military family, had just had the chip implanted a few days before Pooka went missing.
Now 23 months old, Pooka had been staying with a foster mom, Melanie Lopez,who brought the dog to the Albuquerque airport to meet up with Mandi Smith. Claudia Inoue, an animal lover from Santa Fe, donated Southwest Airlines flier awards to Lopez. Southwest allowed Smith to carry Pooka home without paying the standard $75 fee.
With Pooka back in Kentucky, she will have the chance to be friends with two other dog family members. A German Shepherd and a German Shepherd mix will be there to greet her.
Pooka had also recently given birth to puppies in New Mexico, although the puppies have never been found.
No one knows how Pooka traveled more than 1220 miles to New Mexico. The secret will remain with Pooka forever.
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