Dog Missing for 3 Years Reunites with Sister of Late Owner: 'He's All We Had to Remember Her'

A Philadelphia animal shelter reunited the deaf pit bull with his family in Memphis thanks to the dog's microchip

Bentley, a dog who went missing three years ago in Memphis, Tenn., was reunited with his late owner's sister, Dee, thanks to the Animal Care & Control Team of Philadelphia (ACCT Philly).

Earlier this month, ACCT Philly found the pit bull wandering around Philadelphia and brought the dog to its shelter. At the shelter, Bentley was scanned for a microchip, ACCT Philly said in a Facebook post.

A pet microchip is a microchip about the size of a grain of rice that can be loaded with a pet's contact and health information and then implanted under the skin, where it painlessly remains for a pet's lifetime. When scanned, the microchip provides veterinarians and shelters access to the information loaded on the chip.

ACCT Philly found a microchip on Bentley, but when the shelter attempted to call the owner listed, however, it was her sister, Dee, that picked up the phone.

She informed the shelter that Bentley's owner died during his time away from home and that she was "overjoyed" to her the dog was safe.

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A couple of weeks after he was found, Bentley was reunited with Dee in a heartwarming moment that ACCT Philly included in their post. The video shows Bentley howling and wagging his tail when he sees Dee.

“I missed you so much,” she tells the pit bull in the clip while sitting on the grass to hug him. “Come here, baby.”

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In the same video, Dee shares how the pup went missing three years earlier.

"My sister was walking him, and she fell down 'cause she had cancer," she says through tears, explaining that the pair "looked for hi,m and we couldn't find him."

"I don't know how he got all the way to Philadelphia, but I am so grateful," she continues, petting the smiling dog. "He was all we had to remember her by."

"Bentley, I love you so much," she tells the pit bull in the emotional video, adding, "You don't know what this means to me."

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Dee also shared that she never gave up trying to find her late sister's pup, despite not being "in the best of health."

Although ACCT Philly said it considered using volunteer pilots to get Bentley back to Tennessee, the shelter ultimately enlisted the help of a pet transportation service called Whiskers, Tails & Scales Transport to get Bentley to his Memphis home.

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In an "update" posted by the service on Tuesday, Whiskers, Tails & Scales said that Bentley is "doing great" and shared that the dog is deaf. According to the post, the pup knows some "basic sign language commands."

Dee and Bentley spend a lot of time together in Memphis, as Dee has received permission to bring Bentley to work with her, where the pit bull lays "right at her feet."

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