MIDDLEBURG – A Middleburg woman and her Yorkshire Terrier were reunited after eight years.

Michaela Harris grew up around dogs. She and her mom fostered dogs for local shelters and rescues. Every one of them left a paw print in her life she won’t forget.

But no dog’s print was bigger than Buddy, a Yorkshire Terrier that Harris adopted for herself.

A Middleburg man shot his daughter’s boyfriend and best friend before shooting himself almost 10 years ago. The wife of the shooter ran a puppy mill with more than 30 Yorkies and Maltese dogs, Harris said. After the shootings, the wife began to find new homes for the dogs, and Harris took in three Yorkies and a Maltese.

“I found homes for all of them but Buddy,” Harris said. “Buddy had some health and anxiety issues that I knew would make it hard to adopt him out.”

Buddy has double canine teeth on each side of his upper jaw. He also only had one testicle, a genetic fault often seen in poorly-bred dogs.

The Yorkie also had kennel syndrome from living a life in a cage. As a result, would constantly spin his body in circles to relieve anxiety and pass time, a side effect of an under-socialized upbringing.

“After about a year, Buddy was comfortable with me and would hardly ever spin anymore unless he was really anxious about something, but I could always distract him and calm him down,” Harris said.

Buddy and Harris grew to be best friends. He followed her everywhere and when she was away at school, Buddy would play with Harris’ Pomeranian, Punkin, all day.

“We were all best friends and Buddy forgot about his horrible life before me,” Harris said.

When Harris was 14 years old, eight years ago, she went to school at Wilkinson Junior High. Later that day, her brother sent a text to her saying that Punkin and Buddy went outside. Punkin came back. Buddy didn’t.

As soon as Harris was out of school, she walked up and down every street for miles calling his name and squeaking his favorite toy, but Buddy never came. She printed dozens of pictures and fliers out, placing them all around Middleburg.

“Weeks went by and I kept walking every day calling him, hanging up fliers, asking neighbors if they had seen him,” Harris said. “I would get a few calls every now and then, but it was never Buddy.”

Harris noticed that about a month later, all of her fliers had been removed.

“Whoever found my Buddy didn’t want people knowing he was missing,” Harris said.

Harris moved to a new school and eventually gave up hope of finding her pet.

“I hoped whoever found him took care of him even though they weren’t his rightful owners,” she said.

Years passed and Harris moved to Gainesville, Orange Park, the west side of Jacksonville, then the north side and back to the westside. She grew up, had a baby, moved out of her mom’s house and into her own apartment. A day didn’t pass when she didn’t think about Buddy.

She took in four dogs in the eight years without Buddy – a Husky and three Great Pyrenees. She still had Punkin, who is now 12 years old. Still hoping for word of Buddy, Harris followed all kinds of lost pet pages on Facebook.

On Sept. 19, she saw a post that caught her by surprise.

“I saw a post in the lost and found pages by a lady named Amy who had a senior Yorkie in Jacksonville near the airport and she posted about him having a weird tendency to spin in circles when he was anxious,” Harris said. “It’s not a common issue for an average lap dog to have so I messaged and asked if the dog had double canine teeth on his upper jaw and to my amazement, she said he did.

“And then I asked if he only had one descended testicle and she said he did. I thought it was the strangest thing, too strange to be a coincidence.”

Harris asked Amy if she could come see the dog, just to see if maybe, by chance, the dog was Buddy. Amy had already given the dog to a friend though, but she helped Harris get in touch.

“When I got there and saw his little body, I knew it was him,” Harris said. “His ears and bowed out legs and his coloring and his eyes and little nose, everything was just a perfect match for my Buddy.”

Buddy’s new owners allowed Harris to take him home and after a few weeks, he’s back to normal, according to Harris. He’s more frightened than before, something Harris said likely has to do with the 150-pound dogs he’s surrounded by, but Harris said her other dogs have been as sweet as can be to Buddy.

“We’re a family,” Harris said.

Harris said her life feels normal again after recovering such a vital part of her childhood eight years later. She wants people to hear her story and never give up, no matter the odds.

“I don’t know who stole my buddy,” Harris said. “I don’t know why they took it upon themselves to keep a dog they knew had an owner looking for him. I don’t know why they robbed me of eight years with my dogs that I was supposed to rescue and show a better life, but I do know that the universe tends to work itself out, no matter how long it takes, and because of that, I have my dog back.

“Not only do I want people to never give up on finding their lost dogs, but I also want to point out the importance of taking proper steps to locate an animal’s owners if you find it. People don’t get to play finders-keepers with someone’s pet. That pet is their family.”