Overview

• Opie, a 5-year-old corgi-shepherd mix, disappeared from his home in Bieber, California, in early July during a storm, according to animal services.
• He was found on September 28 wandering near Chicago and was taken to the Itasca Police Department as a lost pet.
• Police scanned his microchip and the microchip company reached the registered owner, who initially doubted the call.
• The owner flew to Illinois, reunited with Opie on October 1, and began driving back to California, having reached South Dakota, officials said.
• Opie was wearing a collar with a different name and how he traveled over 2,000 miles remains unknown, as officials credited current microchip registration and urged owners to verify records via the AAHA lookup tool.