Family reunited with lost dog a year later

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - One family has been hoping their dog Frankie would come home sooner or later, but after more than a year they knew it probably wasn't going to happen. On Thursday morning, they were notified that Frankie had been found thanks to a microchip.

"We didn't expect him to remember us," said Rosita Blaylock.

Rosita Blaylock's expectation was far off when Frankie went missing more than a year ago, but he ran to her as if no time had passed.

"I always did that, he turns over; I rub his stomach, so he remembered that. That's why he did that," said Blaylock.

Frankie ran away over a year ago; the family spent several months frantically looking for him.

"We searched everywhere, we came to all of the shelter's that are here in the Phoenix baseland, and we couldn't locate him," said Blaylock.

Tuesday night someone dropped the pup off at the Arizona Animal Welfare League after they found Frankie walking in the street.

"What we did is what we do with all stray dogs, we immediately scanned him to see if he had a microchip and oddly enough he did," said Judith Gardner.

The family was contacted and reunited with their four-legged friend. They aren't sure where he's been or who has been taking care of him, but they are happy he's back in their arms.

"If I didn't get him chipped we probably still wouldn't have found him. It would have been a while, or never seeing this dog again," said Alezrah Bassue.

The AAWL will be micro-chipping dogs for just $20, they say in addition to microchipping your pet, you should always wear a tag with their name and your contact info.