This little dog got lost and travelled dozens of miles to find a forever home

This mischievous pup wandered off and spent two months walking across multiple Californian cities. It covered at least 72km and, as it turned out, not in vain. The best thing possible expected him at the end of his adventure - a loving forever home. The traveller-pooch and his new owner couldn’t be happier.

A lost dog

According to dog rescuer Suzette Hall, it’s not uncommon for lost dogs to wander far away from their homes. Unlike the abandoned dogs who stay where their owner left them, the lost pooches follow their sense of smell and intuition. They can end up in the most unexpected places.

This is exactly what happened to a recently-adopted Koa who’d escaped from his new home. Hall knew that the pup might have been up for a long journey, and there was no way of knowing how it would end.

The search operation

Hall and her rescue partner posted Koa’s details on local social media to let neighbouring cities know he was missing. And something unexpected happened.

She said:

And then we started to get all these sightings. I don’t know how he got to all these different cities, but he went everywhere.

According to Hall, sightings of Koa stretched across a handful of cities in Southern California. People and police officers in all these different locations knew about him.

Hall wrote on Facebook:

He travelled from Yorba Linda to Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach to Westminster.

Found in a church

After two months of travelling and covering a total of 72km, Koa was spotted in Westminster, California. He was found sheltering in a church! But the pup was so skittish that no one could catch him, The Dodo writes.

The dog rescuer was determined to put an end to the pooch’s lonely adventure and, with the help of two Westminster animal control officers, safely netted him.

She said:

It was only a miracle that we got him.

An unexpected twist

Hall rushed the mischievous pup to the vet. He was incredibly skinny and needed medical care to recover from his long journey. She also called his adoptive parents just to find out that they have given him up.

Koa urgently needed a forever home. And by some miraculous coincidence, he found it right there and right then.

The pooch is now a part of an amazing family. He enjoys playing in the garden as much as cuddling up with his humans. And he hasn’t tried to wander off again.

Hall said:

His new mom just loves him. He has the best life.

Read more:

⋙ This blind rescue dog was so cheeky he won his foster mama’s heart and got a forever home

⋙ This elderly dog couple are ‘loving life’ again after they have been adopted by a family that adores old dogs

⋙ Three abandoned dogs were ‘dumped like rubbish’ and left to die in a cardboard box in the scorching heat