Zeppelin The Dog, Reunites with Its Owner After Disappearing 14 Months Ago

A Sacramento dog that disappeared more than a year ago and ended up more than 1,600 miles away in Kansas is back home. Zeppelin, the dog, was recently found after having vanished 14 months ago.

After Heather Reichart found him barking in her field, she took him to a vet in Louisburg, where a microchip scan revealed he belonged to an owner in Sacramento.

The dog’s owner, Sandra O’Neil, had never given up hope since the dog went missing.

On Wednesday, she said, “I always thought if he got away and someone checked his chip, maybe he would come back to us,.” “I hadn’t given up completely.”

She had driven to where she last saw him and said a prayer. The next day she got the call that he had been found. She said, “I was just floored by how far he made it.”

O’Neil first got a virtual reunion with Zeppelin via FaceTime and now will have him back at home just in time for the holidays. “This is an amazing gift. Our whole family is blessed to have him coming home,” said O’Neill.

Zeppelin’s long road trip home happened thanks to the efforts of another stranger. Mary Hastings, who is from Newberry Springs in Southern California.

“I didn’t tell anybody. I didn’t ask anybody. I just did it,” Hastings said.

Hastings was visiting her sister in Ohio when her daughter in Kansas told her about Zeppelin, who required a ride home. So she volunteered to drive the dog back to its owner. They arrived in Sacramento on Wednesday and met near the Sacramento Wier.

Hastings wanted to give a special gift during the Christmas season.

“Room at the inn. Be the one that can make a difference,” she said. “Be the one that can change something, and that’s what I was feeling.”

The reunion took place in the same area where O’Neill first found Zeppelin in January 2020. She believes someone dumped him there.