Family, dog reunite after 11 years
Family hopes tale of four-legged family member living on the streets will spark action in community to aid animals
A San Antonio family was recently reunited with a lost dog in Conroe after nearly a dozen years apart with the pooch being rescued from a life on the streets.
Angela Surrett was phoned April 7 about Vader, her blackcoated male Shar Pei and Labrador retriever mix, being housed at the Conroe Animal Shelter.
Following an unwanted separation in 2011, everything aligned itself for Vader’s warm homecoming, his owner said.
“I do believe the universe works in strange ways and that things are meant to happen,” Surrett said. “He’s meant to be here. He’s meant to live out the rest of his days being very spoiled and loved.”
A member of the U.S. Army for the past 16 years, Surrett, 54, twice lived outside Texas during the time she and the dog were apart. Vader’s recovery comes shortly before his owners leave the state again.
Most stunningly for Surrett, the canine’s microchip still had her active phone number, making her reachable to the animal shelter.
She and her daughter lost the dog when he was around 9 months old after her then-husband gave the pup away to a person unknown to them and without their permission.
“We always loved him. He’s just the sweetest, goofiest, silly little dog,” Surrett said.
Animal shelter employee Lauri Nettles sent Surrett photos of Vader, who was malnourished and underweight with his ribs and backbone showing. His back legs were weak and his nails were extremely long.
Scared in a corner kennel, the dog was in a dire situation.
He could be held for only three or five days, and there were no foster or rescue homes available to take him in, Surrett said she was told.
“Whatever his journey was, I felt responsible because if he had lived with me that whole time, he would have been cared for; he would have had a great life,” Surrett said.
That same day, Surrett and her daughter, Marti, 19, made the nearly four-hour drive to Conroe to retrieve Vader. The dog seemed to recognize his original owners.
“He was glad to see ’em. He perked up a little bit” and wagged his tail “best he could,” Nettles said.
An “ecstatic” Marti cried upon seeing the dog she had lost when she was only 8, her mom said, adding, the young woman is now “always smothering him with kisses and hugs.”
Vader has since seen a veterinarian, who told Surrett that based on his condition, the pooch was likely living on the streets for a year or more.
His health has made an “amazing” transformation in two weeks time, Surrett shared, as the dog is receiving proper care, having some dental extractions done and is on medication for his leg pains.
“All we can do from here on out is make it up to him. He’s just settled right in. It’s almost as if he never left, except he’s now a little old man” with gray on his face, Surrett said.
Vader is getting along with the family’s other pets, which include two rescue greyhounds, a Shiba Inu and a Chihuahua. Pepper, a 17-year-old cat the Surrett’s owned when they had Vader as a pup, rounds out the four-pawed clan.
“Chip the dogs,” Surrett advised.
Nettles, who has been working at the animal shelter for three and a half years, said she has never seen a reunion following a separation as long as the one between Vader and the Surretts.
Meanwhile, Surrett hopes Vader’s story will compel people to become involved in animal welfare efforts.
“If you can adopt, adopt. If you can’t adopt, foster. If you can’t foster, then you can volunteer your time or donate money or food or bedding or whatever local shelters need. There’s all these fun things that you can do that will make a difference in one of these animals’ lives,” she said. “Vader’s a great example. Got him off the streets and now he’s living a cushy life.”