Lost and Found: A heartwarming 8-year reunion of a man and his dog

It’s a love story that almost ended on Interstate 35, when Damian, a miniature pinscher, decided he wasn’t interested in relocating.

Paul Guilbeault was making the move from Massachusetts back home to Phoenix, Arizona.

“While we were there in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, we stopped out in front of Frontier City, to walk Damian,” said Paul Guilbeault.

Damian managed to get off his leash, bolting down the I-35 service road, turning an overnight pitstop into an eight-day search.

“We definitely, at that point, we were kind of mentally preparing to find Damian in a different manner,” said Guilbeault.

Eventually, they made the tough decision to call off the search and continue with the move to Phoenix.

Fast forward eight years to Rick Chambers, who lost his dog a couple of days before Christmas. His dog Carolina is a Pomeranian mix that ran from his mother’s house. The dog was found and adopted through an agency that will not release the adoption information to Chambers.

On New Year’s Eve, Chambers was at a family member’s house waiting for his sister.

“She came carrying this reddish dog, crying, bawling her head off because she almost ran over him,” said Chambers.

The family went door to door but couldn’t find the owner, so Chambers took him home and started calling him "Little Man."

“The following week, I took Little Man and my rottweiler up to the vet,” said Chambers.

He had the vet see if Little Man was microchipped, and they found a match.

Turns out Little Man was Damian, so they reached out to Paul, but he was on his way to California to take clothes to families affected by the fires and didn’t answer.

“I continued on my way to California, because the whole time, I thought it was a scam,” said Guilbeault.

But after talking with Rick and seeing pictures of Damian, it was all the confirmation he needed.

“We did immediately turn around and drove the fourteen-plus hours nonstop to Oklahoma City,” said Guilbeault.

“When Paul came in and he sat next to him, I knew,” said Chambers.

“Immediately it was like, it sunk in that, he’s old now,” said Guilbeault.

Damian was around five years old the last time Paul saw him, now eight years later, “He’s still the same dog and still has the same habits, but you have to take it easy, he’s kind of going deaf, he’s got cataracts like crazy,” said Guilbeault.

The two reunited after eight years.

“We’ll just enjoy him, enjoy every minute we have with him,” said Guilbeault.