LAS VEGAS — When Judith Monarrez got the email, she broke down in tears and fell to the floor in her kitchen. Gizmo, her dog who had been lost for nine years, had been found alive.
In 2015, Monarrez was 28 years old and living with her parents in Las Vegas. That’s when Gizmo, who was 2 years old at the time, got through a broken gate in the garden of their house.
A lot of things changed in the next ten years. Monarrez, who is now 37 years old, bought her own house, got her master’s degree in English, and started working as a teacher at the college level. Monarrez said that she never gave up looking for Gizmo over the years.
She was now getting in her car to drive across town to an animal hospital to meet Gizmo. Later, Monarrez learned that a woman had found the dog, who was now 11 years old and taken him to the vet, where his microchip was read. This sent an email to Monarrez, which made her cry.
Gizmo was back in his owner’s arms just hours after getting that email on July 17. It was “a miracle” to Monarrez.
“Tomorrow is 2020,” she said. “I’m so glad I put his microchip on file.”
At the same time that they got back together, a new law in Las Vegas starts on August 1 that requires pet owners to microchip their cats and dogs.
Thursday, Monarrez said that Gizmo’s first week back at home has made him feel a lot of different things.
She said it was clear that Gizmo had changed too during the nine years they were apart. The eight-pound Chihuahua was scared of dark places, heights, and birds, and Gizmo now walked funny. He also said that the dog’s eyes were badly swollen and that some of his teeth were missing.
Monarrez remembered the moment they saw each other again at the vet’s office: “Even though he looked so different when I looked in his eyes I knew right away it was Gizmo.” The moment I called his name, he tilted his head and stared at me nonstop.
She said that Monarrez and her parents can’t stop thinking about what Gizmo went through after he went missing, but that their main goal now is to take care of his health problems and “shower him with all the love that we were holding onto for all those years.”
