Reunited and it feels so good: Missing family dog turns up in California 3 years later

Pets can become part of the family and losing one can be heartbreaking.

But one El Paso man got a second chance with his four-legged friend.

You don’t have to look to long before you know these two love each other.

Ricardo Dominguez and his dog Brownie were unusually acquainted in 2009.

“One day we get home and the kids tell us there’s a huge dog in the backyard,” Dominguez said.

Brownie stuck around and fit in well with the family.

“I fed him and took care of him,” Dominguez told ABC-7. “I liked the dog so much, he started riding with me in my trucks.”

Unbeknownst to Dominguez, the dog belonged to some nearby neighbors.

“One day, sure enough, the owners showed up and said ‘That’s my dog,” Dominguez said. “I said ‘OK, sure, no problem. We’ve spent all this (money), he’s gone to the dog pound twice, and he got chipped and his vaccinations. This is what we payed for him. Go ahead take your dog.”

There was a dispute, and Dominguez ended up keeping the dog.

From then on, it was an unbreakable bond.

“We’d be going all over, just him and I and my horse up in the canyons, up in the mountains,” Dominguez said.

Then one fateful day Dominguez had to take care of some business and left Brownie under the watch of someone else. When Dominguez got back, Brownie was gone.

“Did it hurt?” ABC-7 reporter Jerry Najera asked.

“Yes it did, like someone took one of my kids,” Dominguez replied,

Three years passed and Dominguez thought Brownie had been stolen.

Then he got a unexpected phone call from a veterinarian telling him he had Brownie.

“Brownie? Are you talking about Brownie? Where’s he at? San Diego?” Dominguez asked in shock.

Dominguez made the more than 700-mile drive that same day. He drove straight through for 10 hours — only stopping for gas — and he wasn’t even sure Brownie would recognize him.

“He saw my hat, you should of seen his face, his eyes grew and he started dragging that poor girl and he jumped on me,” Dominguez said.

Dominguez never thought something that would cost $10 would be worth so much..

“Chipping your dog, if you really love your dog do it man, they’ll come back,” Dominguez said.

As far as how Brownie got to San Diego, no one knows. But Dominguez tells ABC-7 he’ll be horseback riding with Brownie by his side soon.