BEACH CITY – One Baytown family is in pleasant shock after their beloved Golden Shepherd was found after more than four years of being lost after the dog was stolen from their Baytown home.
On Monday, the family received a life-changing call that their beloved dog had been found -- 600 miles away in Borger, Texas.
The Malmstom family raised their family’s precious German Shepherd, Sheba, since she was eight months old.
“We raised her from a pup,” said Stephanie Malmstom, Sheba’s owner. “She was just an amazing animal, amazing temperament and very smart.”
However, in January of 2018, when the Malmstrom family visited their neighbor they came back home to a sad discovery.
“We had come back from having dinner at our neighbor’s house and she was gone,” Malmstrom said.
Security footage from the family’s home showed people taking their dog from their yard and luring her into their truck.
“We were hollering her name,” Malmstrom said. “We were searching for years, but after four and a half years of Sheba missing, I lost a little bit of hope.”
On Monday, she received a call from Borger, Texas, saying that Sheba had been found by Animal Control officer Jared Harper, who said the dog was too friendly to be a stray. She couldn’t believe what she heard.
“Okay, yeah right,” Malmstrom said. “I won a cruise and a million dollars, too!”
But soon enough, they connected. Sheba’s microchip identified that she was in fact their dog, hundreds of miles from Beach City where she had been stolen years prior.
Harper and the Malmstrom family facetimed with Sheba.
“She responded to her name and even some of the German commands,” Malmstrom said.
Sheba is expected to return home on a private plane, thanks to the help of the City of Borger and non-profit Pilots N Paws, which is dedicated to having volunteer pilots return animals.
The Malmstoms are grateful for the help and said Sheba will return home in the next few days. They said they are thankful for humankind and man’s best friend.
“My dog that was stolen and was found 600 miles away,” Malmstrom laughed.