Microchip helps Wisconsin man find lost dog in Philadelphia after 4 years

PHILADELPHIA - A man and his long-lost dog were reunited at ACCT Philly after four years apart, following a cross-country drive and a lucky microchip match.

What we know:

Leovigildo Ramirez drove 16 hours from Wisconsin to Philadelphia to pick up his dog, Cipi, after she was found as a stray and identified by her microchip, according to ACCT Philly.

Ramirez had been living at an extended-stay hotel near the Philadelphia International Airport with his wife and Cipi while working as a welder at the Philadelphia Shipyard. He told FOX 29 Cipi ran away in the summer of 2022 as they were unloading groceries. 

Microchip leads to a happy ending

Ramirez said kept Cipi's microchip updated even after moving out of the area, which led to a call from ACCT Philly when she came in as a stray.

"It's really a fail-safe," Sarah Barnett, executive director at ACCT Philly, said of microchips. "It's something that doesn't fall off when running or get stuck on a fence or something like that, and it's something you can continue to update."

Philadelphia Police picked up Cipi on Jan. 20, when she was running down South 74th Street in Southwest Philadelphia. She was found not far from the hotel where she had lived with Ramirez, police say. 

ACCT Philly said someone likely had the dog during the time she was missing before she ran away again.

Ramirez drove through a major snowstorm to reach Philadelphia this past weekend and said, "That was incredible…she is my best friend." After the reunion, Ramirez said the drive back to Wisconsin took two days because of the bad weather. 

Ramirez said he plans to keep Cipi close from now on.