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A one-eyed Pekingese who ran off from his home nearly two years ago was reunited with his family in Arizona this week — after running out of another home and into the side of a police car.

Buddy had been missing since May 2011 when, during a monsoon, a gate flew open and he darted off the property of his owner, Jessica Rowe of Mesa.

Rowe searched, but was unable to find the small black and white dog.

On Friday — 22 months later — Buddy ran out the door of a home in Phoenix and into the street, AZFamily reported.

“That’s when I heard this really horrible sound as if a large stone or some object hit the driver side of my patrol vehicle, looked out the rear view and saw the dog down on the road,” Phoenix police officer Don Martin said.

Martin and another officer wrapped up the dog and took him to a vet, where a microchip was discovered, showing the dog was owned by Rowe.

Police called her and she reunited with Buddy Monday.

Martin said a citizen found Buddy about a week ago and had been caring for him up until his run in with the police cruiser. It’s unclear where Buddy had been before that.

“… We all like being police officers, because of moments like this,” Martin said as he watched dog and owner reconnect. ” … This is what you live for.”

Officer Martin also paid the dog’s vet bill.

(Photo: AZFamily.com)

The British government this week announced that all dogs will have to microchipped by 2016.

“It’s ludicrous that in a nation of dog lovers, thousands of dogs are roaming the streets or stuck in kennels because the owner cannot be tracked down,” Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said.

Owners who fail to follow the edict will be subject to fines of £500, or about $785.

Paterson said the move will allow all lost, stray or abandoned dogs to  be traced back to their owners, ensuring people are held accountable for their animals.

A Doberman named B.A. has been reunited with his owner — seven years after he ran off during a thunderstorm.

Dan Kesler, now an assistant swim coach at Arizona State University, lost his dog while living in Durham, N.C.

He’d moved repeatedly since then, but had kept the same cell phone number, allowing humane society officials in North Carolina to get in touch with him when B.A. — who was microchipped — ended up in a shelter.

The dog was found wandering the streets of Durham, North Carolina last month, according to Fox 10 in Phoenix.

Kesler said he’d almost given up hope of ever seeing his dog again.

“The first night I spent outside waiting for him to come back, because I honestly thought he would come back that night. Within a week I thought he would show up, but but then as weeks turned into months and months turned into years … did I think he’d be back? I can’t say yes. But I never gave up hope.”

Kesler was contacted by the North Carolina shelter about four weeks ago, and B.A. was flown to Arizona at the beginning of the month.

A dog separated from his owners during Hurricane Katrina was found wandering in North Carolina — and may be headed back to his original family.

A veterinarian in Cabarrus County  is asking for the public’s help in returning the dog, named Shorty, to his first family, even though Shorty has lived nearly seven years with new caretakers.

Shorty was spotted on a roadway in Cabarrus County about two weeks ago, according to NEWS14, and when the vet checked for a microchip Shorty’s original owner’s name came up.

“We traced the dog to Louisiana and thank goodness the gentleman did not change his cell phone number,” said Brenda Tortoreo, the receptionist at Cabarrus Animal Hospital.

That family had given Shorty up seven years ago when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, said said Dr. Blake Peurifoy, a veterinarian at Cabarrus Animal Hospital who has been treating the dog.

“They (the owners) were hit really hard during Katrina. They lost their home and didn’t have the ability to take care of their dog so they gave it away. They don’t know where it went from there,” Peurifoy told NBC.

Shorty is now 15, and has spent almost half of his life with his new owners, who  came forward when Shorty appeared on the TV news. They live in Concord, N.C.

WCNC reports that a teenager called the station on Sunday after seeing news reports about the found dog. Ta’layza Miller and her grandmother, Oclisha Miller, who adopted Shorty from a Concord shelter more than six years ago, said he’d been missing since September 10.

Unlike Shorty’s first family, the second didn’t have a microchip installed.

The family said they understand why Shorty’s original family in Louisiana wants him back and that, given the circumstances, they don’t object.

“Since they lost everything in Hurricane Katrina and they lost him … I wouldn’t mind them keeping him or anything because it was their dog first,” said 15-year-old Ta’layza said.

Given the second family’s agreement, the veterinary hospital plans to get Shorty back to the original family in Lousiana — but he needs some medical attention first.

Shorty was found with infected eyes, badly matted fur, dental disease that requires surgery and a heart murmur.

The hospital is treating Shorty free of charge, and is hoping someone will volunteer to help transport Shorty back to Louisiana when the time comes — probably around two weeks.

“I don’t want to add additional hardship to them … With it’s heart condition and the condition his mouth is in, it’s like saying, ‘Here. Here’s your sick dog back and you’ve got $2,000 worth of stuff to deal with in his mouth,’” said Peurifoy.

The hospital is interested in hearing from people who might be able to take Shorty to Louisiana.

“I know these people have had the past seven years or so a hard life. Thank God I’m not in their position, and we just hope this serves as a sort of a bright spot for them because they certainly deserve it,” said Peurifoy.

Some dogs stories tend to sound a lot like fish stories.

But that’s not to say we’re casting any aspersions on this one.

Mark Wessells of Myrtle Beach, S.C., says that six months after he dropped his black Lab mix off at his father’s house in Winchester, Va., the dog named Buck, managed to walk all the way back to Myrtle Beach — a distance of 500 miles.

Wessells was in the process of moving and had left the dog with his father to keep temporarily.

“I wanted him to be up in Virginia where my dad has all this other property and he would’ve been happy,” Wessells said.

But a week after Wessells dropped Buck off, the dog disappeared from his father’s home.

Six months later, Buck showed up in South Carolina, where he was found by Brett Gallagher. For two weeks, the dog played happily with Gallagher’s yellow lab mix Hannah. Gallagher eventually took the dog, who he was calling Deuce, for a checkup at Grand Strand Animal Hospital where a veterinarian found a microchip identifying the dog and his owners.

“The nurse came back and said, ‘Are you Buck?’ and he got so excited,” Gallagher said. “It must have been the first time he heard his name since he left.”

Wessells was notified and came to claim his dog, according to the Myrtle Beach Sun. (Click the link for video of the reunion.)

“I still don’t know how I feel,” Wessells said. “I’m just glad he’s back.”

All newborn pups will have to be microchipped under plans announced in England this week.

According to The Guardian, the microchips would contain information about the dog, its breed and contact information for the owner, all of which would be stored on a central database available to the police and the RSPCA.

The move is aimed at making it easier to track and prosecute owners of dangerous dogs, but some question whether owners of dangerous dogs will comply with the measure.

“If we’re not careful we’re going to make things more difficult for legitimate dog owners, and not solve the real problem of dangerous dogs,” said Neil Parish, chair of the all-party parliamentary group on animal welfare. “…It’s not so much the dogs that should be targeted, but the owners who train them to be vicious.”

The Association of Chief Police Officers has called for a strengthening of the terms of the Dangerous Dogs Act after a recent pitbull-type dog attack in east London in March left five officers in hospital.

Since microchipping was introduced in 1989, more than 4 million dogs and cats in the UK have been fitted, the Dogs Trust said.

A 7-year-old dachshund flew first class from Florida to be reunited with her 14-year-old owner.

Abby Mason hadn’t seen the dog, named Addison, since June, when, on a visit to Florida, the dog got away from relatives and disappeared.

Addison was picked up as stray in Tampa, and Hillsborough County Animal Services identified her through a microchip.

That just left the problem of getting the dog to Missouri, but another dachshund lover stepped forward to help with that.

Crista Banks, after hearing of the dog’s plight, used her Skymiles to escort Addison on the the flight to Kansas City — and, even though dachshunds don’t really need the extra leg room, Delta upgraded them to first class.

(Photo: Keith Myers / The Kansas City Star)

Petie, the Jack Russell terrier who disappeared from his back yard in Tennessee in July, and turned up in Michigan last week, has been reunited with his 73-year-old owner.

A Michigan Humane Society volunteer, Nancy Greiser, drove Petie the 600 miles to Erin, Tennessee and handed him over to owner Jim Arrighi on Thursday.

The reunion couldn’t come at a better time, the Detroit Free Press reported: Arrighi’s wife of 37 years, Juanita, died two weeks ago.

The  4-year-old dog arrived to much fanfare — balloons, welcome signs, TV cameras and, inside, a steak that had been prepared for Petie by a local restaurant.

“He’s more excited than I thought he’d be,” Arrighi said moments after Petie greeted him with barks and a wagging tail.

Arrighi had been searching for Petie since the dog disappeared from his yard July 28. He put up posters, bought ads in the local newspaper, and went door to door.

Earlier this week, in Michigan, a Rochester Hills man found Petie wandering in his backyard and took him to the humane society. There he was scanned for a microchip, and that information led them to  Arrighi. How Petie got to Michigan remains a mystery.

“He meant a lot to me and my wife,” Arrighi said. “I figured he was gone. I thought the chip was a waste of money, but I guess not.”

(Photo: Mark Hicks / The Stewart Houston Times)

Fadidle, a miniature pinscher who disappeared from her home in Salt Lake City eight months ago, was found in San Diego and flown home to reunite with her owner.

“It’s wonderful,” Sharalyn Cooper said Saturday as she held the quivering 2-year-old min pin in her arms at Salt Lake International Airport.

Cooper said her dog often roamed the immediate neighborhood, but one day last October she didn’t come home. Cooper searched, put up flyers and checked with area animal shelters, all without luck.

“We had a hard time,” Cooper said. “She’s our baby. It was pretty tough.”

Then, two months ago, came a call came from the San Diego Humane Society.

Athena Davis, an employee at the humane society said the dog was brought to them by a “Good Samaritan.”  They placed the animal on a stray hold, but then discovered she had been microchipped and were able to track down Cooper, the Deseret News reports. 

Because the dog was on ringworm watch, her return was delayed until this past weekend. Davis accompanied the dog to Salt Lake City.

“She’s the best little girl,” Davis told Cooper when she handed the dog over.

“I’m just so excited we were able to do it and make it happen,” Davis said of returning Fadidle. “It’s one of the more unusual things I’ve done, but I enjoyed it.” She noted that, without Fadidle’s microchip, the reunion might never have taken place.

“We see a lot of different things,” Davis said. “When it works out this way, it’s really touching.”

Cooper said she has wondered a lot about how Fadidle disappeared, and ended up in California. She suspects, she was stolen

“I’d love to hear what she has to say about this whole thing,” Cooper said. 

(Photo: Jeffrey D. Allred / Deseret News)

“Welcome home” posters are waiting for Caesar, a dog who disappeared after a car crash last year that killed two members of his family near Tucumcari, New Mexico.

The Quay County Sun in Michigan reports that Caesar — a Maltese who was never located after the crash — recently turned up at the Tucumcari shelter, where a volunteer was able to track down his owner, Monica Benson, after he was scanned for a microchip.

“This has been the best news we have received in a year,”  said Benson, who lost her husband and a daughter in the accident.

Caesar is expected to arrive home in Clio, Michigan, this week, where Benson’s four surviving children have made welcome home posters for him.

The Benson family was traveling westbound on I-40 near Tucumcari on June 15, 2010, when their Chevrolet mini-van overturned, killing Gary Benson, Monica’s husband, and their daughter Emily.

One of the other children,  Benjamin was placed in an intensive care unit.

“While Benjamin was in the ICU, we placed pictures of him and Caesar on the walls.” Monica Benson said. “When he woke up he would point at the pictures and say Caesar.”

(Family photo of Benjamin and Caesar)