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Published on Oct 19, 2016‘I Had Almost Given Up Hope’
Man Shares Thoughts After Reunion with Scruffy

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 19, 2016 – He was working as a trucker on a long-distance haul when it happened.

When his beloved dog went missing, he was more than 2,500 miles away. The heartbreaking drive back to the Coachella Valley was filled with stress and questions. Where was Scruffy? Would he ever show up ever again? Was he even alive?

The anguish lasted more than a year for Michael Greer more than a year – exactly 371 days by his own record keeping – until the tearful and joyful reunion Tuesday (Oct 18) at the Coachella Valley Animal Campus in Thousand Palms. He has cared for the dog almost its entire life. Scruffy, now 6, recognized Mr. Greer right away when he reached down to pet him through the kennel door.

Riverside County Animal Services officer Paul Villanueva picked up Scruffy Monday evening as a stray in Indio. But, thanks to a microchip embedded under his skin, shelter employees were able to contact Mr. Greer.

“It’s so hard to talk about, it’s just so wonderful,” Mr. Greer said in a telephone interview. “To say this has been a rollercoaster experience would be an understatement. I had almost given up hope.”

Scruffy was being cared for by a friend when Mr. Greer went on the long-distance trucking assignment. The dog got out, somewhere near the Bermuda Dunes Country Club. When Greer returned to California, the security staff members at the country club got familiar with his face. Several people had spotted Scruffy at the course, but no one was ever able to get very close.

It makes sense Scruffy was a bit nervous around strangers. Mr. Greer had cared for the pooch since agreeing to become his pet parent on a strange encounter. The terrier mix, apparently abandoned by someone as a puppy, had been living underneath a rack of pipes inside a supply yard at a pool services company in Palm Springs. At the time, Mr. Greer was working in the pool business and often visited the shop for his equipment.

The store owners and employees regularly fed the scraggly dog, but told Mr. Greer that they were going to take the dog to the shelter because the shop was going to be closed for a five consecutive days – and they didn’t want the dog to starve.

“They told me, ‘we need to find a good home for this dog,’” recalled Greer. “Here he was, living underneath the bottom rack.”

As it turned out, Mr. Greer didn’t need to have his arm twisted too hard by the pool employees. He took in the dog and they had been inseparable ever since. He even took Scruffy on trips to New York and Germany. Then he went missing, breaking his heart.

Mr. Greer, now 45 and a graduate student pursuing a degree in criminology, visited the Coachella Valley Animal Campus no fewer than eight times. “The first time I went through the dead-dog book, I just lost it,” he said. “I couldn’t drive away. I was outside the shelter for almost an hour. It was emotional.”

Tuesday afternoon’s visit was as emotional, but much more uplifting. He cried when he saw Scruffy and held him. So what was his first meal when Scruffy got home Tuesday afternoon? “A rib-eye steak,” Greer said.