Arizona man reunited with lost dog after 8 years

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A Valley man who lost his dog on a cross-country road trip back in 2017 searched for days, weeks, months and years, hoping one day his phone would ring saying his dog had been found.

Eight years later, he finally got the call, and the two were reunited.

Paul Guilbeault’s dog Damian was 5 years old when he went missing, and now he’s 13!

Guilbeault was on his way to California to donate clothes for wildfire victims in Los Angeles when he got a call from a random number. His dog’s microchip was scanned.

“This little guy was my little everything,” Guilbeault said. He has owned Damian, the mini-Doberman since he was 6 months old. Guilbeault was all Damian knew.

But the two got separated during a pit stop in Oklahoma City when they were on a cross-country road trip from Massachusetts, moving to Arizona.

“He broke off his leash and just kept running,” he said.

Guilbeault searched for hours on end for a full week around OKC.

“Literally, the minute I knew I wasn’t going to catch him, I thought the worst from the minute that happened,” he said.

He hung up missing dog signs, posted online, and joined hundreds of Facebook groups, but nothing.

“After eight days, my dad said we’ve run out of money. We were in U-Haul, which we were renting, and eventually the talk came up like, hey, we have no more money to do this anymore.”

Now, fast forward eight years. Guilbeault is on his way to donate clothing to the wildfire victims in California when his phone blew up with texts and calls.

“The preview said your dog Damian has been found,” he said.

Guilbeault says a woman in OKC nearly hit Damian. She took him to the vet, who scanned his microchip, and Guilbeault’s information came up.

“So we were there in about 13 hours,” he said.

It was a reunion eight years in the making, one Guilbeault thought may never happen.

“I wish we could swap stories. Because I got a lot to tell him, he’s missed out on a lot and I’m sure he’s got a lot to tell me.”

The two are now catching up on life. Damian has new brothers and sisters and a family who loves and missed him.“We’re really glad you’re back, buddy,” Guilbeault said to Damian.

Guilbeault is urging all animal owners to microchip their pets. While he isn’t sure if someone had picked up and kept Damien over the years, he says he was dirty and skinny when reunited, and his nails were long.

Guilbeault says Damian is now getting his full servings of food and is treated like royalty.

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