Reunited at last: Dog lost for four months finds way home

Published 1:30 am Saturday, October 27, 2018

EVERETT — After being lost for four months, a dog was reunited with his owners on earlier this week.

Michelle Eaton-Huber burst into tears upon seeing her dog, Nibbles, on Monday evening.

Her boyfriend Anthony Rees was in disbelief.

“I couldn’t comprehend getting him back,” he said.

The 7-year-old Bichon Frise-Pomeranian mix apparently was taken from their car in the parking lot of the Tulalip Resort Casino in June. Eaton-Huber was in the front seat when she heard the door open. She figured it was just Rees, taking the dog out to go to the bathroom.

When she turned around, Nibbles was gone, and Rees was still inside the casino.

They spent hours trying to find their dog. They filed a police report and put up posters. They asked the casino if there was any security footage. And Eaton-Huber’s daughter, Paris Benson, shared pictures on social media.

Their dog was nowhere to be found.

“The hardest thing was leaving the casino without him,” Rees said.

Months passed and they had all but given up hope when, on Sunday, Benson got a call.

Someone found Nibbles. Not in Marysville, but at a drugstore in south Everett, near where his owners lived.

“I literally didn’t even hang up the phone,” Benson said. She called her mother right away.

Virginia Lucero, who found Nibbles, said he was dirty and in “bad shape.” She took him home and gave him a bath. The next day, she found out he was microchipped.

She and her husband didn’t hesitate to set up a reunion.

“We knew it was the right thing to do,” Lucero said.

Eaton-Huber picked up her dog and, like they had never been apart, he flopped belly up in her arms, waiting to be petted. She obliged.

How did a dog make the 20-mile journey from Marysville to Everett, across multiple rivers and highways?

That’s a question only Nibbles can answer.

Zachariah Bryan: 425-339-3431; zbryan@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @zachariahtb.