Dog missing for 3.5 years reunited with Lubbock family

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - It’s a day one pet owner thought may never come. Three and a half years ago, Harli Phillips’ dog, Princess, went missing. Fast forward to July 2020, when she received a call from a stranger saying Princess had been found. Since December 2011, Phillips and Princess were an inseparable duo.

“I saw her in the Walmart parking lot and I just fell in love with this little furball,” said Phillips.

In May 2017, then six-year-old Princess went missing.

“We moved into a house with one of my mom’s friends and he let her, (Princess) and my mom’s dog out. And at that point, she (Princess) was getting old. She has hip dysplasia, and she was starting to not really go anywhere,” said Phillips. “I don’t know if whenever he let them out if she just took off. I was at work and he (points at boyfriend) went to pick me up and we came back, and she was gone.”

Princess was not seen again until earlier this week when a woman spotted the dog in a park in Denver City. The woman took Princess to the vet who scanned Princess’ microchip. The vet called the owners listed on the chip’s registration. They attempted to call Phillips, but her number had been changed. They then contacted Tanner Richardson, Phillips’ boyfriend.

Richardson said a Los Angeles phone number called his phone. He said “Typically, I don’t answer those. For some reason I did. And then they told me that they had some information about a pet, and they needed my credit card,” said Richardson. At first, he said “I’m not gonna give my credit card to them, but I did. I was like, ‘I’ll just cancel my credit card if anything’ and I felt right about it.”

Richardson said the payment was to activate Princess’ microchip. He said the caller told him, “It’s Princess, we found her.”

Richardson wanted to verify it was Princess before calling Phillips to share the news. Richardson was able to verify the found dog was in fact Princess. Then he called Phillips.

“He says, ‘we found Princess.' And I was like, ‘that’s not funny. Don’t play with me. That’s not a joke.' I’ve had her since I was 16, so it was not funny to me. And he was like, ‘I’m not playing,‘” said Phillips, “and I couldn’t say words. I just started ugly crying, and I fell to my knees and I was just in such shock.”

Phillips and Princess were reunited in Brownfield.

Richardson and Phillips said if you do have a pet, make sure you get them microchipped and registered. They also said to add at least one or more contacts on the registration of the microchip.

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