THUNDER BAY — Jordan Carroll has reunited with Tucker.
Almost five months after his beloved Lab/Great Pyrenees cross disappeared, Carroll received word on the weekend that someone had found the dog wandering around camps in the Cochrane area, 750 kilometres from Thunder Bay.
Tucker was six months old, and had only been with Carroll for five months, when he went missing in March during a trip to the dump.
More than 3,700 people joined a Facebook group set up to help find him.
Carroll and his partner even put up a $3,000 reward.
They were ecstatic when they learned that Tucker was still alive.
"He was on the loose past Cochrane. He was wandering between two camps for a few days about five kilometres apart. The people finally got him and posted it on Facebook," Carroll told TBNewswatch in an interview Monday.
He and his girlfriend drove immediately to Cochrane and brought Tucker home on Sunday.
In Thunder Bay, a veterinary examination showed that the dog has some health issues..
"He definitely needs some TLC because his hip was hurting bad," Carroll said. "He has a bad ear infection. And he did have a seizure on the truck ride home at about Longlac."
Carroll said it's impossible to know the trauma that Tucker may have experienced, but it's clear "his diet definitely was not good."
After arriving home, Tucker seemed unable to run around in the yard, but by Monday he was going "full blast" again.
Carroll speculates that the dog was taken to the Cochrane area by someone who had picked him up in Thunder Bay.
"He had no collar on. It seems he was either dumped or got away."
His girlfriend has posted a social media message noting that "some are going to wonder how we know it's him. Well, we just knew, just as everyone said we would. When we got there his tail started wagging and I was greeted with a wet kiss. He also grabbed his old favourite toy and was tossing it around like he used to."
She added "We brought him around his old yard and space and he remembered. He's done things to prove it's him. Not to mention, every marking matches."
The couple previously expressed their gratitude to community members who supported their search for Tucker in a variety of ways.
