When Jourdyn Koziak received a call that her long-lost pit bull had been found, she thought it was a prank. Her beloved dog, Forty-Cal, had been missing for 11 years after disappearing from her Philadelphia backyard. Koziak, who was just 16 when she got the puppy, had never stopped updating his microchip information despite moving to Luzerne County.

A little girl in Philadelphia found the docile dog, who walked right up to her and made friends. The family brought him inside, fed him hotdogs, but couldn't keep him due to another pet. Animal Care and Control Team (ACCT) Philly scanned his microchip and contacted Koziak. 'Immediately, I could remember his markings from a mile away,' she said.

Koziak drove to Philadelphia with her family, including three kids, to retrieve Forty-Cal. When she saw him coming down the hall, everything else faded away. 'I no longer was hearing anyone. I had tunnel vision,' she said. Shelter staff had warned the reunion might be overwhelming, but Forty-Cal pulled them toward the door, ready to leave.

Now back to his normal self, the dog acts like a puppy again, wagging his tail and wanting walks. Koziak describes waking up to see him as 'like Christmas morning every day,' though she sometimes feels distressed thinking about the lost years they could have spent together.