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Dog Owner Reunited With Missing Pooch After Almost 7 Years Apart

Mia's owner Jim just wants "to do what's best for her".

After years of wondering what had happened to his beloved pooch, Jim Gardiakos was reunited last Friday with his beloved English staffie Mia who disappeared from his front yard in 2010.

Gardiakos was left devastated when the pup, who was just under two-years-old at the time, went missing.

"She was 22 months [old] ... she had jumped the fence a couple of times and I got her back and each time I tried securing it more and more but the last time when she went missing she managed to get [through]," he told HuffPost Australia.

Reunited at last.
Facebook / Bring Mia Home
Reunited at last.

"I had flyers everywhere, I went to the police, I went to the council... [I] never saw her again basically for about seven years."

Gardiakos described the moment Mia was brought home as being "a bit strange" but he was soon comforted by the dog's eagerness to see him again.

"She doesn't look like she's fretting," he said.

I'm no expert but she looks fine to me.
Facebook / Bring Mia Home
I'm no expert but she looks fine to me.

The circumstances around Mia's disappearance are cloudy amid allegations that the dog was stolen.

"The people that had her obviously never registered her, they claimed they took her to the vet," Gardiakos said.

"Even after this time if I thought it was a legitimate case of 'alright you know whatever, we didn't do the right thing but we looked after her', I probably would've considered maybe leaving her... but they knew. They knew and it's pretty painful.

Gardiakos received a call from the Canine Animal Registry a few weeks ago who told him that Mia's microchip had been scanned at a vet.

Following a series of back-and-forth phone calls, Mia was soon back at Gardiakos' Melbourne home.

"I want to do what's best for her," he said.

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