SPRING, Texas – A chihuahua-terrier mix missing since February has finally found his way home.
Milo, the 3-year-old dog, had quite an adventure in the Spring area over the last several months. Strangers went out of their way to help him as his family nearly gave up hope.
“I have him and he’s here with me, but it doesn’t feel real almost,” Milo’s owner, 14-year-old Keimanni McAlpin told only KPRC 2.
Milo has called a dark, wooded area near the North Freeway and Grand Parkway home since February. It’s more than three miles from his real home.
“I actually blame myself,” McAlpin said.
Milo usually followed McAlpin all around the house, but in February, while unloading groceries, he bolted away without anyone knowing.
“At first I lashed out at her,” said McAlpin’s mother Constance Joseph. “We had to get to him before he gets far, because I know he will run ... fast.”
They didn’t have any luck despite searching until 1 a.m. the next day and posting all over the neighborhood group.
But near East Mossy Oaks Road and Lake Plaza Drive, an observant stranger started noticing Milo.
“He was running across the street in front of our truck,” said Perri Pearson, who comes to the wooded area for walks with her own dog.
She spotted Milo, she estimates in February or March, nosing through the grass.
“As the months go by, he’s small. I’m like, ‘There’s no way he’s still there just fending for himself’,” Joseph said.
But Pearson and others slowly started becoming part of skittish Milo’s fan club.
“Every morning I would come over, feed him. I would go to the gym and stare out the window instead of get on the treadmill and just look for him and hope that he was eating,” Pearson said.
She could never get close to the quick little rascal.
“I just felt like he was a dog ... that was missing home,” Pearson said.
Late last month, she contacted a trapping group on Facebook. The mission was to get Milo, and the tools they used included cages, sirloin, and filet.
“We really had to lure him in,” Pearson said.
While they had eyes on him several times, Milo kept his distance from the cage until Tuesday when he finally took the bait.
Pearson took Milo to her vet and a microchip scan led them to a teenager who never lost hope.
“He’s a dog, but he understands me more than anyone,” McAlpin said.
Milo’s family is fur-ever grateful for caring strangers who watched over his ulti-mutt excursion.
“I told my daughter he could pee in the house, he could do whatever he wants, we’ll clean it up, don’t worry about it,” Joseph said, laughing.
A lot of people were involved in getting Milo home. They say it wouldn’t have been possible without that microchip, which is a step they urge every dog owner to take.
“Tell your animal that you love them, hold them really tight, cherish those moments because that full year that he was gone, I felt nothing,” McAlpin said.
McAlpin and Joseph agreed it will be the best Christmas ever with Milo home. He has seven new outfits to try on at home and several toys waiting for him.