A Sad Story With An Incredible Ending

This is a sad story with a surprise ending, sit back and enjoy it. At the beginning of 2014 some members of the Newport (Wales) kennel found a dog in poor physical condition in a basement. It was a very old Staffordshire Bull Terrier. The dog had lived on the street for many years and his overall health had been severely affected.

The dog’s advanced age, about 13 years, had made him totally deaf, blind in one eye and his hind legs in poor condition, perhaps due to an accident or a degenerative disease of the bones or joints.

The dog’s treatment process would have been very long and, again due to his advanced age, the vets did not believe he would survive. Furthermore, even if the dog had survived, it would have been practically impossible to find him a home, because most people prefer to adopt young dogs, in medical conditions that are not too complicated as those presented by this animal. Therefore, to avoid greater suffering to the dog, it was unfortunately decided to sacrifice it. 

At this point, just one day before the suppression, something incredible happened. Checks were carried out to verify the presence of the chip, which was found with all the information relating to the dog’s owners. His name was Chance and his family was the Cox. But the surprises weren’t over.

After sending a letter to the family, informing them of their dog’s discovery, they received a call. The woman on the other side of the phone was Julie Coombers, who claimed it must have been a mistake because all the dogs in the family were in the house. The woman was informed that the dog had a chip with her family data and that it was a black and white Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Hearing this description, the woman was silent for a while and finally asked in surprise if it was possible that it was Chance.

When they recognized the animal, Julie and her son Sion Cox could not avoid tears as they saw Chance’s condition, the dog they had lost 10 years ago.

Chace was Sion’s companion dog, who was just 11 years old in 2004. One afternoon Julie allowed Chance, who was only 3 years old at the time, to go out into the garden to say hello to Sion. When he returned to the garden to bring the dog back into the house, he was gone.

From this moment the desperate search for the family to find the dog began. They knocked on many doors, reported his disappearance, contacted animal rights groups, placed advertisements in the newspaper, and had photos circulated. Yet it seemed that Chance had vanished into thin air.

What Chance did for 10 years remains a mystery to this day. Fortunately, however, thanks to the discovery of the microchip, the family was able to reunite with his dog and Chance’s life was saved, just one day before the planned sacrifice.

The first thing Julie and Sion did was to call the dog by name, Chance, at which point the dog moved its ears and recognized them immediately. The kennel informed the owners that the animal’s condition was critical and that they had decided to sacrifice it. Sion and his mother didn’t think twice, they took Chance and brought him back to the house he should never have left.

Today Chance lives with Sion in his college residence in Cardiff and has recovered very well from his years of neglect. He loves going for a walk with his master and cries every time he has to go out. Sion’s goal, on the other hand, is to guarantee his old friend a dignified life and to offer him the best, no matter if he will live another 3 months or 2 years.

It is truly amazing to see how much a dog can improve thanks to the love and care of a loving person, so we hope that Chance can live several more years alongside his family. Chance turned 14 on April 1st and has never been so happy.