Woman Thought Lost Dog Was Gone Forever-Five Years Later Gets a Call
A woman whose adored pet dog was missing for five years had given up hope of ever seeing her again-until she got a call that changed her life.
Michelle, who posts to TikTok under the username @michelizabethh, shared the incredible story in a video posted on February 23, captioned: “Story time of how I reunited with my dog that’s been missing for 5 years.”
Michelle said she adopted Lola from a shelter in 2018 while she was in college, and, after finishing her final year, moved back to her parents’ home with Lola in tow.
In April 2021, Michelle went out with friends, leaving Lola at home-but got a call from her mother that night that the dog had gone missing.
Michelle cut her night short, rushing home to frantically search for her missing pet, but “she was nowhere to be found.”
It emerged that, after Michelle’s parents let the dogs out, their other family canine came back inside, and they closed the door, locking Lola out, after mistakenly thinking she had also returned. The tiny dog panicked, and ran from the yard, likely crawling under a gap in the side door.
Weeks passed, and, despite putting up flyers, looking on shelter websites, checking in vet offices and asking neighbors and locals, there was no sign of Lola.
“It was such a horrible time in my life, I was so distraught,” Michelle tells the camera-while petting her now-reunited dog, who is napping in a comfortable bed beside her.
Michelle began to accept that Lola was likely gone for good, and while she was “grieving,” she hoped that someone had taken Lola in and was giving her a good life.
And then, in February, 2026, Michelle got a call from an unknown number-which turned out to be an animal shelter. Lola had been found in a park, and her microchip still had Michelle’s details.
Michelle rushed to the shelter to reunite with the dog she never thought she would see again. And while Lola is now a senior dog, aged around 11 when they reunited, she was healthy.
“My thought is someone took her in and was caring for her, because she looks well fed and she wasn’t too dirty; she was in pretty good shape overall,” Michelle told the camera. “Someone must have had her, and I guess she ran off again.”
Now Michelle is looking forward to making up for lost time with her adored pet, for however long she has left. And while years had passed since Lola had seen Michelle, her owner believes she remembers her, as she is skittish around strangers-but allows Michelle to cuddle and hold her.
TikTok users were in tears at the story, awarding it close to 10,000 likes, as one person asked: “My question is, where was she all this time?”
Another said it was “so scary not knowing what her story was for the last 5 years,” while others shared theories on what could have happened.
“Awww Lola looks so comfy and happy to be with you,” one commenter said, as another described the dog as “sleeping GOOD in that bed!”
And one summed it up: “I’m crying. I can't believe she's back with you after 5 years. She was always meant to come back and I'm so happy for the both of you!”
Microchipping is a permanent identification for pets, and helps reunite lost pets with owners after they go missing as a shelter or veterinarian can scan for a chip to find the owner’s contact information.
Microchips are about the size of a grain of rice, and are implanted under a dog’s skin. It contains a unique ID number that links the owner’s contact information to the pet, which a veterinarian or shelter can use to contact the owner if the dog is found alone.
Newsweek has contacted @michelizabethh via TikTok for comment on this story.
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This story was originally published April 14, 2026 at 10:30 AM.