WINNIPEG — When Terra McCabe lost her dog Daisy three years ago in Vancouver, she thought her furry friend was gone forever.
However, earlier this month McCabe received a call she never expected, telling her that her dear Daisy was found safe and sound at a Winnipeg shelter.
On Friday, the pair were reunited at the Winnipeg airport.
Daisy has been in the care of animal services since early December.
The Havanese pooch, who is now 13 years old, had been wandering the streets of Winnipeg and was found by a local resident.
Leland Gordon with Winnipeg Animal Services says it's lucky there was an old tattoo associated with the pooch.
Gordon says with a lot of work by the veterinary community and animal services, they were able to reunite Daisy with her owner.
McCabe said she had planned to go on a trip to Mexico on Dec. 7 when her family missed the flight.
As she left the Vancouver International Airport, she remembers a flight attendant saying “everything happens for a reason.”
On her way home, she got the call saying Daisy had been found.
"I was shocked," she said, adding no one knows what Daisy has been up to since 2013.
“They have no idea… no tags and no one has gone looking for her,” McCabe said.
She originally lost Daisy when she took a walk to a grocery store and tied the pooch up outside for what she expected to be a short visit. When she came back outside, Daisy was gone.
She searched around West Vancouver and made calls to local animal services, but Daisy never turned up.
"I’ve thought about her so many times, how much I miss her, thought I’d never see her again, but now I can't believe it came true."