By: Diana Johnsen
djohnsen@kcautv.com
It all began last year, when a tornado in Mapleton, Iowa ruined Lisa and Taylor Olson's dog, Dexter's underground electrical fence. The loss allowed Dexter to escape and run away.
At the time, Taylor was serving in the Army overseas when he got the message.
First, about the tornado damaging his house and second, that his dog Dexter was missing.
"My hands were tied," said Taylor. "I couldn't leave. I had a mission to focus on, and I couldn't do anything about it."
So it was up to Lisa to do most of the groundwork.
Putting up flyers, she searched high and low for a year looking for Dexter until one day while driving with a friend in Sioux City, she spotted a couple walking a dog that looked just like him.
"I was like, 'You have to turn around.' She said, 'Are you sure?' I said, 'Yes, one hundred and one percent sure.' So I got out, had a conversation with the couple and we exchanged numbers," Lisa said.
Lisa said Dexter was given to the couple by an older woman and that they were hesitant about handing Dexter over.
Thankfully though, Lisa remembered that Dexter had a microchip implant in his neck that could help prove he was hers.
With a little persuasion, the couple agreed for a vet to scan Dexter's microchip, which proved that the dog was indeed hers and Taylor's.
"Micro-chipping does help," she said. "He's home, without that, we might not have gotten him back."
Right now, three of Lisa's and Taylor's four dogs are micro-chipped, and after seeing how handy the chip is, Lisa said there is no hesitation in getting their fourth dog micro-chipped very soon.
