A heartwarming reunion between a dog and his owner after four months of being lost and alone in the wilderness has melted hearts.
Oakley is one of two dogs who were deliberately dumped during an outing with their dog trainer, leaving their family devastated. Determined to find their beloved pets, they enlisted the help of Anakin's Trails Animal Search, a team specializing in reuniting lost animals with their families.
In a heartwarming video, Oakley was initially a little nervous when he arrived home for the first time. However, he quickly recognized his family, and with a flurry of excited tail wags and enthusiastic kisses, both Oakley and his family were overjoyed to be reunited.
Ashley Raymond, a specialist from Anakin's Trails Animal Search, explained that Oakley, who is one and a half years old, and another dog, who is yet to be found, were lost under unusual circumstances.
"They both went missing when a dog trainer dumped them in the woods after an altercation with the owner. At the time, he was dating one of the owner's friends, and they had a bad breakup. In retaliation, he dumped the dogs," Raymond told Newsweek.
Finding the dogs obviously proved to be very difficult. Anakin's Trails has been tracking and finding animals for years using a range of tactics.
"We hang flyers to get sightings, then set up food and bait stations with cameras to lure them in," Raymond said. After an extensive search, Oakley was found, and the heartwarming footage revealed the moment he was reunited with his family.
Despite not initially recognizing them, Oakley soon grew delighted and jumped all over them.
Raymond explained that dogs that have been separated from their families for extended periods can often go into "lost dog syndrome." She explained: "They forget their owners temporarily and go into survival mode. It takes them a minute to get out of that once reunited."
The tender moment the dog was reunited with his family has been viewed over 29 million times on TikTok, where people couldn't get enough of the reunion.
"She was so traumatized the look in her eyes was like is this a dream?" one viewer said.
While another wrote: "Omfg babyyyy. She didn't know if she could trust her senses for a minute."
Despite having reunited many pets with their owners over the years, Raymond said that seeing Oakley back home was as beautiful as ever. "It was a very tender and heartfelt experience. It is every time we reunite dogs with their owners. It never gets old," she said.
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
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