French bulldog missing from Florida found safe thousands of miles away in Ohio

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TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A French bulldog found himself a long, long way from home after he escaped from his Florida backyard last month.

Just a few days after Christmas, Philip Adams said his 1-year-old French bulldog, Biggy, went missing from his backyard in South Florida.

“I couldn’t sleep, my kids couldn’t sleep, we couldn’t eat,” Adams told WXIX. “My 6-year-old was still calling for him while we were walking our other dog. It was heartbreaking.”

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According to WXIX, Adams and his family put up flyers and joined online groups in Florida and Louisiana in hopes of finding their lost Frenchie – but it wasn’t until he created a GoFundMe page to help raise money to find their dog that they located Biggy.

On Tuesday, a man reached out to Adams and his family through their GoFundMe page and told them that Biggy was thousands of miles away in Cincinnati, Ohio.

“I thought it was weird,” Adams told WXIX. “Took his phone number and email address and typed it into Google and found out where he lived and who he was, and I called the local police department and asked them to go get my dog.”

  • Photo courtesy of the Cincinnati Animal CARE Shelter and Resource Center
    Photo courtesy of the Cincinnati Animal CARE Shelter and Resource Center
  • Photo courtesy of the Cincinnati Animal CARE Shelter and Resource Center
    Photo courtesy of the Cincinnati Animal CARE Shelter and Resource Center

Hamilton County deputies took Biggy from the home and dropped him off at the Cincinnati Animal CARE Shelter the following day.

Cincinnati Animal CARE Shelter Director Meaghan Colville told WFLA that the shelter is housing Biggy until his owner can come and get him.

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Colville said that the 1-year-old pup was in good condition when he arrived at the shelter, but he wasn’t microchipped. She says this is a great story to “push the importance of microchipping.” Had Biggy been chipped, Colville said the shelter could’ve contacted Adams directly.

“We were happy to see him reunited,” Colville said.

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