FREEMONT, Neb. (KETV) – A family is in disbelief after their dog, missing for four years, was found alive and safe.
Patches became Benjamin Baxter’s childhood dog 10 years ago when she was just 6 weeks old. The two were instant best friends.
“I would be hunting, rock climbing or whatever, and she’d be right there,” he said. “And she was the only dog I’ve ever been around that actually loved rock climbing. But she’d always have this big, goofy grin on her face the whole time.”
In 2020, Baxter had to leave Patches with a family friend in Calhan, Colorado, after he moved to Nebraska because his apartment didn’t allow pets.
“She decided that she would take Patches from me until I could find another place where I could have a dog with me,” he said.
Just a few months later, in April 2020, Patches escaped her kennel and disappeared, and Baxter tried to find her.
“By day seven, I started realizing that we weren’t going to find this dog and I was devastated,” he said.
On Jan. 31 of this year, Baxter’s wife, Elizabeth Baxter, got a call from his mom.
“She’d been getting missed calls from an area code in New Mexico saying that they had Patches, and she’s like is this a scam, is this not? I don’t know,” Elizabeth Baxter said.
However, Patches had been found as a stray in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
“All in all, like, considering the circumstance of her being found on the street as a stray, like, she looks very, very good,” Benjamin Baxter said.
Multiple shelters worked to bring Patches back to Benjamin Baxter’s family friend in Colorado.
Now, Benjamin Baxter and Patches are waiting to be finally reunited.
“We’ve got lots of time to make up for,” he said. “And I just want to give her a place where she can be at peace and be at rest in these last couple of years that we’re going to get together.”
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