So much love for this very senior boy...

Duke's microchip was never registered, but the Anti Cruelty Society had the owner information from the adoption in 2007. When the phone number wasn't working, Chicago Animal Care and Control sent the information for this found dog to Microchip Hunters for help reaching his family.

I went to work pulling up what I could find for Duke's family. None of the many numbers I tried went to anyone that knew this family, so I began sending some facebook messages. I wasn't finding too many with a matching last name, but finally got lucky and reached the son-in-law who told me the sad news that his mother-in-law passed away in 2012 and that a friend that lived with her kept Duke at the time. Thankfully he had his name and shared his facebook page, but told me he didn't keep in touch with him. So again, my research began.

I tried facebook messaging, texting and emailing based on what I could find. Jeffrey left me a voicemail back! He got my email! He told me that another friend actually took Duke in for the owner, however, he could only tell me their names were Tom and Cathy. He didn't know their last name. He asked where Duke was found, and told me the general area where Tom and Cathy lived...it was right by where he was found! I knew I had to keep trying, and when Jeffrey told me the landmarks and which streets to go down, I searched on google maps to get addresses that could possibly work. Jeffrey walked me through, and said it was the second house from the corner...after several attempts, I found an address with an owner named Tom attached to it! All the phone numbers I tried were not to anyone named Tom. So....again my research began to find relatives that could help me reach this Tom from this address.

I tried several contacts, and called a number in a northwest suburb of Chicago. The woman that answered the phone said she had a brother Tom, and he had a very old dog, but didn't know if he was missing. When I told her the dog's name, she said, yes! He has a dog named Duke, and gave me Tom's current number.

When I called Tom, he broke down. He and his girlfriend Cathy had spent a week looking for Duke, called all the nearby police stations to leave his information, but he never heard back from anyone. He assumed the worst. He told me they had Duke since 2013, and how much they love him. Tom told me he only works a couple days a week, and is looking for work, so needed time to get the money pick Duke up. Lost Dogs Illinois paid the fee, and Tom and Cathy picked Duke (Dookie) up was soon as possible!

Cathy called me and told me what a blessing our group is, and how sad it was seeing all the people looking for their missing dogs at animal control. She was so grateful to get him home.

Welcome home old boy - you are very loved - you look good for almost 14

Microchip Hunters will be registering the microchip too!