3 years later, dog and Michigan owners reunited in Illinois

WHEATON, Ill. – A whiff of her old blanket was enough for Lola: The black Lab was back in her owners' arms three years after the Michigan dog disappeared on a trip to suburban Chicago.

“I feel like I’m in a dream right now,” Debra Mejeur said Saturday when she and her husband, Steve, were reunited with Lola at DuPage County Animal Services.

Lola vanished from a fenced yard in 2017 when the Mejeurs, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, were visiting a friend in Elk Grove Village.

The couple returned for about a month hoping to find a dog that was specially trained to help Debra Mejeur in case of a seizure. The Mejeurs posted notices, got help from volunteers and hired a professional pet searcher. No luck.

DuPage County authorities got a call last week from a couple in Glendale Heights who had noticed Lola the past few years going into a forest preserve. They had been leaving food for the dog and earned her trust.

A microchip revealed Lola's owners.

“I still had an ounce of hope, I guess, but the majority of me was thinking she had already crossed the rainbow bridge. I was just completely stunned,” Debra Mejeur said.

Lola wagged her tail when she smelled her old blanket. Of course, no one knows how the dog survived for three years.