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Sven the Yorkshire Terrier (left) and Maggie (right) with two of her family members.

It is estimated that over 10 million pets are lost or stolen in the United States each year. One step you can take to minimize the risk of losing your dog forever is microchipping. The tiny transponder that gets inserted between your canine companion’s shoulder blades carries a unique ID number that, when scanned, is linked to your contact information. In case you need some convincing that microchips are the way to go, check out these four heartwarming reunion stories.

1. How microchipping brought a wandering Yorkie back home.

It’s hard to believe that a little Yorkshire Terrier managed to travel 800 miles from Alabama to Florida on his own, but that’s what happened to Sven in 2017.

Luckily, the adorable pup had a microchip that was registered through AKC Reunite. Eight months after he had gone missing, Sven’s owner got a call from a veterinarian in Fort Myers, Fla., who told her he had been found. The two were reunited the very next day!

2. A 19-month separation ends with a tearful homecoming.

When Maggie the dog disappeared from her backyard one afternoon, her family was devastated. Nineteen months later, a couple found the pup wandering outside, about 25 minutes away from her home.

A local shelter scanned her for a microchip and found one registered with AKC Reunite. Though it took Maggie a few minutes to recognize her family when they came to pick her up, the humans in the room couldn’t contain their emotions once she did.

3. It took a miracle (and a microchip) to save Bundy.

Texas animal control officers responded to a call about a scared dog named Bundy perched on a slab at the edge of a highway. When an officer tried to approach him, the pup jumped from the overpass, falling 100 feet.

Miraculously, Bundy only suffered some bruising. He also had a registered microchip, which allowed the vet to contact his family. It turns out the canine companion had gone missing several weeks earlier on Halloween. Though it remains a mystery how Bundy survived his fall, it’s no mystery that microchip technology allowed him to be reunited with his family.

4. A happy reunion eight years in the making.

When Chato the Pug was stolen from his family, they lost hope of ever seeing him again. But when a truck driver spotted the dog outside a gas station eight years after his disappearance, a local animal hospital was able to contact Chato’s owners thanks to his microchip.

Though the pup needed a great deal of medical care after his rescue — he was suffering from a tick-borne disease, severe anemia, and hookworm — microchipping made his return home possible.

We’d all like to think that nothing terrible will happen to our dogs. However, that shouldn’t stop responsible pet owners from taking precautions in case something does go wrong. As any of the individuals in the above stories will tell you, microchipping transformed their heartbreak into happy endings.

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