Missing dog found after 19 month search

An elderly dog that went missing from her Brisbane home almost two years ago has been found an hour away.

COLLEEN Millar burst into tears when she realised what the woman on the other end of the phone was saying.

“I’m from a vet surgery. I’ve got a little dog here that’s registered to you,” the woman had said.

Bella, a 14-year-old Maltese cross disappeared from the front of the Millar’s Cashmere home following a thunderstorm on March 27, 2018.

Bella, 16, is back with her family. Picture: Facebook

Ekka proposal puppy still missing

Family pay $1200 for billboard for missing dog

Mrs Millar said she had almost given up hope of finding Bella, so when she answered the phone on Friday morning, almost 19 months later, she could not believe her ears.

“I just lost it. That’s not me, I hold myself together usually,” she said.

Mrs Millar, 57, said she jumped in the car and drove straight to Battery Hills Veterinary Clinic in Caloundra where she was reunited with a now 16-year-old Bella.

“It was an hour to get there. It was the longest drive ever,” she said.

Colleen Millar is reunited with her elderly dog, Bella, who disappeared nearly 19 months ago. Picture: Facebook

When Mrs Millar arrived at the vet clinic, Bella didn’t respond to her.

“She was so flat when I got there and there was no reaction from her at all which broke my heart,” she said.

“But it was definitely her. I just thought ‘God knows what she’s been through.’

“(The vet) said some guy had brought her in and said they thought it was his neighbour’s but they weren’t home.”

Since returning home, Bella has been “quiet.”

Mrs Millar said her husband Grant, daughters Chloe and Kristy, and their grandchildren, Cailey, 10, and Spencer, 6, were all thrilled to have Bella home.

She said being reunited with Bella highlighted the importance of microchipping pets and never giving up hope.

“Your hearts going ‘don’t give up’ and your heads going ‘come up let’s be realistic’,” she said.

“You hear about these stories all the time but never in a million years think it will happen to you but here it is.”

Bella was also reunited with Asha the maremma sheepdog and Indy the wolfhound cross. Picture: Colleen Millar