Lost Dog from Colorado Walked Roughly 1,200 Miles to Indiana Before Being Reunited with Owners: 'Happy She Is Home' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Maggie Thornberry and Elizabeth Daniele with Diva the dog.Photo:Maggie Thornberry

Elizabeth Crawford, Diva, Maggie Thornberry

Maggie Thornberry

One pet owner got the surprise of a lifetime when her dog, Diva, who had beenmissingfor two months, turned up roughly 1,200 miles from her home in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Veterinary techniciansMaggie Thornberryand Elizabeth Daniele at theOak Knoll Veterinary Clinicin Rolling Prairie, Ind., first met the dog when a good samaritan brought Diva in after seeing her wandering down the road near their practice. Upon scanning the dog’s chip and contacting her owner, the clinic learned that Diva had been missing for two months and lived four states away.

“I didn’t think I was going to see her again because she’d been gone for two months,” Rodriguez tells PEOPLE. “My first question was, ‘How did she get over there?!’ "

Thornberry and Daniele volunteered to meet Diva’s owner, Maria Rodriguez, halfway at a dog park in Kansas City, Mo., making the eight-hour drive with the scared dog to reunite her with Rodriguez and her fiancé, Charles Green.

Diva the dog.Maggie Thornberry

Diva the dog

“It was a super fulfilling experience,” Thornberry, 22, also tells PEOPLE. “I am applying for veterinary school this month, so I am very excited. The vet field can be so draining emotionally and incredibly hard at times, but it’s moments like these that remind us why we do what we do. It was so heartwarming, and we would do it over again.”

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Veterinary technicians Elizabeth Daniele and Maggie Thornberry pose with Diva.Maggie Thornberry

Veterinary technicians Elizabeth Daniele and Maggie Thornberry pose with Diva

Rodriguez agrees that Diva recognized her upon her reunion, noting, “She remembered all of us all of who we were. I know dogs remember. Diva is proof to me that dogs do know who their human is.”

Diva poses with her owner Maria Rodriguez (left), her fiancé Charles Green (right), Maggie Thornberry and Elizabeth Daniele.Maggie Thornberry

Diva poses with her owner Maria Rodriguez (left), her fiancé Charles Green (right), Maggie Thornberry and Elizabeth Daniele

“I am so happy she is home,” Thornberry highlights of the ordeal. “I just couldn’t stop thinking about if it was my dog. My dog is my best friend and I hope someone would take care of him the way that I took care of their dog.”

source: people.com