UNIVERSAL CITY, Texas – After five years of wondering and wishing, Diranda Braswell was reunited Monday with her long-lost dog, Baby Blue Bell.
Baby, as Braswell calls her, disappeared in May 2014 from a friend's yard in Goodyear, a Phoenix suburb, while Braswell was living in Arizona. A lock on the gate was broken, Braswell said, leading her to think someone had stolen her dog.
So when Braswell got word Thursday, thanks to her pit bull's microchip, that Animal Control had picked up the dog in Peoria, another Phoenix suburb, she and her husband made plans to drive from Universal City and go pick up Baby.
"I was extremely nervous that she wouldn't know who I was and she'd reject me," Braswell said.
That was a big concern, since Braswell says Baby helped her through some tough times when she first had her. A Navy veteran, Braswell says she has post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety and had Baby registered as a service dog.
Although Braswell said it didn't seem like Baby remembered her when she was first walked into the room, that soon changed.
"I was like, 'Aww, she doesn't remember me,'" Braswell said of their reunion. "But as soon as we got in the car, that's when it was like, 'Oh, mommy affection.'"
There was never any concern of Braswell forgetting Baby, though. Even after she had moved to the San Antonio area, Braswell said she would catch herself looking at the markings on blue nose pit bulls in the dog park on the off chance Baby had miraculously ended up in the San Antonio area.
Now she's back for good, though things with Baby aren't yet as they used to be. Baby is still a little cautious, Braswell said, and she thinks it will take a few days for her to warm back up to her.
There are good signs, though. Baby spent the entire night on the bed with Braswell, and the dog is fitting right into her family, which has grown considerably in the five years they were apart.
"(The kids) wanted to stay at home with 'baby sister.' That's what my daughter's calling her is the baby," Braswell said. "I was like, 'Y'all realize she's older than all of y'all, right?'"
The pair will have plenty of time to regrow their bond now, as Braswell has no intention of losing Baby again.
"I'm not letting her really out of my sight," Braswell said with a laugh.
Someone else's Baby
Braswell was not the only one looking for Baby.
Officer Brandon Sheffert, a spokesman with the Peoria Police Department, said a man called in looking for his lost dog and described Baby. Apparently, his family had adopted her from a local rescue group during the period that Baby was missing.
On a second check, a microchip registered to Robin Hood Animal Rescue was found on Baby.
Reached by phone Wednesday, the director and owner of Robin Hood Animal Rescue, Bob Spangler, said they had found Baby in 2016, though he was unsure of the exact date.
Her original microchip was found when they took her to a spay and neuter clinic, Spangler said, but neither they nor the clinic could get in contact with anyone.
Eventually, they adopted her out to the other family in the Phoenix area, he said. They added a new microchip, Spangler said, since the first one had not led anywhere for them.
Sheffert said Baby was ultimately released to Braswell because Baby's microchip registered the dog as hers, the police record listing the dog as stolen and other records were enough to prove her ownership.