Missing Dog Turns Up Close To Home And Reunites With Family Ahead Of Christmas Day

A family truly has a lot to be thankful for during Christmas after reuniting with their missing dog, with special thanks to the family’s neighbor finding the pooch.

NBC Connecticut shared that the dog, an energetic Golden Retriever named Bronco was only a few months old.

On the afternoon of December 23, Bronco made his paw-rents, Justin and Anna Tralli, worried sick after he was outside and got spooked by some trash cans.

“He just took off and there was no stopping him. He wouldn’t come back to any of our commands,” Justin Tralli told NBC.

Tralli recounts the experience saying that the pooch sprinted down High Street from their Higganum home before they lost sight of him as he went into the woods.

He added that after initially looking for the pooch, he posted on social media about Bronco, and that’s when locals began helping, including the Trallis’ next door neighbor Tom Tomphson.

Thompson said, “I went this way. They went that way, calling the dog and we stayed out there until right around 5 o’clock when we couldn’t see anything anymore.”

Tralli, who was worried about the cold and possible coyote danger in the woods, searched for the pooch by himself in the middle of the night.

The worried owner explains, “I actually found some of his tracks, so I started following those up one of the trails and when I lost his tracks, I actually stopped and built a little fire on the woods just hoping maybe he would come to me.”

But there were no signs of Bronco until the morning of Christmas Eve. However, tables have turned when Thompson was picking up firewood and noticed something by the wood pile.

“I kind of look forward, ‘Is that who I think? Bronco, is that you?’ And I wasn’t sure from the distance,” Thompson explained.

Thompson then realized that it was indeed Bronco and began calling him. When he got hold of the energetic pooch, he immediately called the Trallis, who were obviously overjoyed.

“That image will forever be etched in my brain of Tom holding Bronco. I thought I was hallucinating,” Anna Tralli said.

Now that Bronco is back home and didn’t miss Christmas with the family, the Trallis said they’re grateful to their community, especially Thompson, for all the help they did.

The family also said they’re taking steps to keep Bronco from running away again. “We’re going to be getting him a GPS collar and a very substantial electric fence,” Justin Tralli said.

WATCH: Animal Shelter Lets Its Shelter Dogs Pick Out Their Own Christmas Toys

Santa came in early for the shelter dogs of Humane Educational Society (HES) as they picked out their Christmas gifts on the morning of Friday, December 20.

Each shelter dog let a bit of their personality shine during the toy-picking session.

“Some took their time to carefully select the perfect one, while others dove in headfirst and wanted to play with them all,” HES wrote in a Facebook post.

The animal shelter shared that each dog took their chosen gift back to their kennels to play or snuggle right after.

HES wrote, “We love to be able to provide this Christmas surprise to our shelter pets! Thank you to everyone who donated toys for this special occasion!”

In the video, the Christmas toys can be seen laid out on the floor in two lines. The shelter dogs then came in one by one, excitedly might we add, to sniff out the toys and choose one of their liking.

All tails were certainly wagging after the dogs find the toy of their Christmas dreams.

The video is a viral hit among Internet users — It gained over 600,000 reactions and 188,000 shares on Facebook and a whopping 5.4 million likes on TikTok.

The video has also been reposted on Reddit and now has over 61,000 upvotes.

One Reddit user wrote, “Moments like these remind us how much joy and personality each of these pets brings, even in a shelter setting.”

See the video for yourself below and watch tails wag at the Humane Educational Society:

Shelter Dog Gets The Best Christmas Gift — A Forever Home Ahead Of The Holidays

A shelter dog who has spent three years at the Cheltenham Animal Shelter gets the best Christmas gift ever — getting adopted and spending the holiday season with his forever family.

“We have THE BEST news to share with you this Christmas!” The UK-based animal shelter shared on Friday, December 20 on their Facebook page.

The animal shelter also shared how the dog, an Akita named Kato, first came to their shelter in 2021.

Kato came to their shelter with his best friend, Poppy, in April 2021 after their owner passed away.

“Despite our best efforts, we just could not find anyone willing to take on these two large dogs, who were the best of friends, and time marched on with them living together in one of our kennels,” Cheltenham Animal Shelter shares.

While no adopter were willing to take on these two dogs, Kato and Poppy seemed happy to be together in the shelter.

However, in July 2023, Kato’s best friend, Poppy, passed away, which left Kato alone and depressed.

“Our staff rallied round, and Kato became a regular fixture in our offices during the day, but at night we could tell he missed his friend greatly.

The animal shelter hoped that since Kato is now by himself, it’ll be easier to get him adopted. “But sadly this was not to be, Kato settled in his new routine and bonded even more with our team,” the animal shelter shared.

Wanting Kato to finally go to his forever home, the animal shelter worked with other charities to spread the word about Kato and promoted him on the animal shelter’s social media, newsletters, and in local press.

“Then one day in October 2024 a lovely couple called David and Jackie got in touch having recently lost their beloved Siberian husky, Shadow,” Cheltenham Animal Shelter explains. “They had seen our appeals to find a home for Kato and were keen to see if they could meet him.”

Describing the couple and Kato’s first meeting as something “clearly meant to be”, the animal shelter reveals that the couple wasn’t expecting too much, but Kato ran over to them and introduced himself.

Over the next couple of weeks, the couple met with Kato at the shelter on several occasions before the couple had Kato visit their home.

“It is safe to say that Kato approved of his new surroundings, immediately taking over the chair that Shadow once slept in.”

The Cheltenham Animal Shelter reveals that Kato’s wishes finally came true, like Christmas magic, and recently went home to Jackie and David, ready to spend his first ever Christmas in a loving, forever home for the first time in three years.

“He recently went to his forever home, in a lovely rural village, with endless walks and fields to explore. His new family dote on him and are chuffed to bits that they were able to offer him a lovely new home where he will spend Christmas this year,” the animal shelter wrote.