A woman from Albuquerque, New Mexico got the surprise of her life when she received a phone call from an animal shelter over 800 miles away in Corpus Christi, Texas. The caller was a worker at Peewees Animal Shelter & Sanctuary who said someone had dropped off a poodle microchipped with her information on it.

Aranza Delgado’s family poodle named Puppies (pronounced “Poopies,” from the movie Nacho Libre) was stolen 4 years ago. After an extensive search, the Delgado’s eventually gave up hope of ever having their pup returned home.

Unbeknownst to the family, almost 900 miles away on the Texas coast someone spotted a dog wandering around in early March and took the dog to a local animal shelter. After an exam, the shelter discovered the dog had been microchipped and found Delgado’s contact info linked. When the shelter called, they were shocked to hear that not only were Puppies’ owners not in Corpus Christi, but they were not even in Texas.

The Delgado’s were equally shocked to hear that Puppies had been found and somehow managed to travel so far away from home. The shelter’s usual policy is that the owners have 24 hours to pick up their animal after being contacted, but due to the unique circumstances, the shelter has been very cooperative and understanding as they work to reunite Puppies with his family. Speaking to KRIS NEWS in Corpus Christi, Delgado says:

“Everybody has been amazing. From Pee-wee‘s To the people that are helping me transport. I didn’t realize how friendly everybody in Texas was and how much they’ve been helpful — I’ve had a lot of messages, as a matter fact, the lady that I’ve been in contact with — she’s picking him up tomorrow when he’s ready to go and she’s going to keep him overnight and then eventually put him on the transport to get him back home.”

Delgado and her family are hoping Puppies’ story will both draw attention to shelter adoptions, but also make others think twice about stealing a family pet, or even merely keeping one they find wandering around. She also hopes their story will remind people of the importance of microchipping their pets.

“I just want people to remember that ‘finders-keepers’ does not apply to your dogs. Return them. They are a part of our family,” Delgado said. “You don’t keep other people’s dogs — you send them back, get them scanned, and if you want to keep them, then maybe get on a waitlist — there’s thousands of dogs needing to be adopted.”