Mom Finally Reunites With "Stray" Pup After Spending 8 Years Looking For Her

Sophia Hanson didn’t think much of it when she let Blake and Laila, a pair of sibling pups, into her yard as usual in 2009. But a short while later, they had vanished with no evidence of where they’d gone or how they’d left. Had they escaped? Had someone stolen them?

Hanson and her husband looked for their pups for ages. Then, a year later, a pit bull pup who looked a lot like Blake was being sold for $500 very close to their San Antonio, Texas, neighborhood. They went to meet the seller, and it was, indeed, Blake.

Blake found his way back home that way, but he was in bad shape and had likely been poorly treated. Rehabilitation took a long time, but eventually Blake relaxed back into his former self. But that still left Blake’s sister, Laila – out there, somewhere, lost. Years passed, and it seemed like it was time to let her go.

Then, in 2018, a woman named Janice Rackley saw an extremely skinny, tired, frightened pit bull pup in a field. She didn’t know it, of course, but that was Laila. Rackley tried to gain that pup’s trust, wanting to help her, so she took to driving out every single day to provide food and water to her. This was a six-month effort to slowly gain Laila’s trust. But even after all that time, the second Laila saw a leash she would run.

The seasons got colder, and Rackley realized she needed to do something more drastic to save the pup. So she went over, picked her, up, and walked her back to her car. Laila was actually extremely relaxed about it. Rackley took her into her home, and for a month, Laila slowly got over her fears, becoming sweeter and more open.

Rackley began trying to train Laila, but she realized that the pup knew so many tricks on her own. She realized that Laila might actually have a family out there missing her. So she took Laila to animal control, where she was scanned – and a microchip was found.

The Hanson’s received a call later that night to inform them that Laila had been found – just 40 miles away from their own home. Rackley brought Laila to them, and the second Laila saw her long-lost Mom, she ran right up to her. Everyone began to cry, and it was truly an emotional reunion.

Laila may have been gone for such a long time, but she has memories of what she used to do with them and around them, proving she’s always missed her family. With Blake, Laila is happy, and she’s slowly learning to trust three more new rescue pups the Hansons have now.

But she fits right back in, and she’s doing everything she used to – so it’s safe to say she’s happy to be home.

Images & Feature Image Source: Janice Rackley