Overjoyed collie is reunited with owner after vanishing from home and going on 1,000 mile adventure

Published: 15:04, 17 August 2026 | Updated: 15:13, 17 August 2026 A heartwarming video shows the moment an owner reunited with her beloved collie after it disappeared from home to embark on a two-week long interstate adventure.  A 10-year-old border collie was found by a shelter in North Carolina, 1,000 miles from his home in Oklahoma. Guilford County Animal Services first took Rio in as a stray and, after scanning him for a microchip, discovered his owner Melissa lives in The Sooner State. Melissa flew out to Greensboro immediately after to reunite with Rio, concluding her two-week long search.  The adventurous pup is now back home with his family and nine-month-old canine sister. The staff at the shelter guess that Rio was found somewhere between the two states, and then ran away again before he could be scanned, WRAL reported. 10-year-old collie Rio reunites with owner Melissa at a North Carolina shelter two weeks after he vanished from their home in Oklahoma Melissa described Rio as an 'elaborate escape artist who tends to bolt when he gets scared,' according to the shelter's Facebook post on the pair's reunion. The post has received thousands of likes and comments from supportive owners, with many highlighting the importance of microchipping your pets. 'My boy escaped our fence and was gone for 26 months, somehow got free of what evidence showed was a horrible existence, traced by microchip back to me. Microchipping is everything,' one user wrote. Others speculated on what might have happened to Rio while he was missing, with theories ranging from helpful truck drivers to not-so-helpful adoption agencies.   The shelter wrote: 'A collar can come off. A pet can travel much farther than you ever expect. But a microchip gives shelters and animal control a way to connect a lost pet back to their family.' 'We’re so happy this story ended with Rio back where he belongs.'