A family in Crawford County, Georgia, has all reasons to smile after reuniting with their missing dog, who disappeared a little over a year ago, 13 WMAZ-TV reports.
According to the dog’s owner, Kellen Tuten, their pooch — Kota — went missing last year from the family’s home after a heavy storm damaged their electrical fence.
After so much time apart, the Tutens never expected to reunite with Kota. Thankfully, the family miraculously located their long-lost pooch — and as fate would have it, they did not find her alone.
Georgia family trace missing dog, find her with puppies
Losing a pet is, undoubtedly, every pet owner’s worst nightmare. That nightmare became a reality for the Tuten family when their German Shepherd and Lab Mastiff mix dog vanished from home in July last year.
“She’s very special to us. We got her as a puppy before we had kids or anything, so she was our baby pretty much,” Tuten told 13 WMAZ-TV during the dog’s disappearance.
They desperately searched for Kota but seemed to only hit a dead end with every promising lead. Days turned into weeks and weeks to months with no breakthrough.
However, things took an unexpected turn this past September when the Tuten came across a Facebook post that guided her to Kota. She was under the care of a family in Macon, Georgia, who gave her the nickname ‘Momma Dog.’
Turns out, and to Tutens’ surprise, Kota had given birth to 4 adorable puppies while she was missing. She and her puppies lived in the woods behind the Macon family’s home.
As much as finally finding Kota meant the world to the Tutens, the reunion didn’t exactly go down as they had anticipated. “We had in our head that it would be like oh Kota and she would run and jump on us. It was not that way,” Tuten told WMAZ-TV News. “She’s still very skittish; you can tell she’s been having to like hunt and fend for herself.”
The Tutens found Kota and her 4 puppies — Finn, Huck, Bear, and Creek — in a pipe behind the Macon’s home. They took all the canines home. One year and several miles later, Kota is back to the forever home she once knew. Safe to say, the Tutens now have four extra doses of furry love under their roof.