Have you ever heard stories of owners finding their missing dog from years ago? Such a bizarre thing can happen thanks to technologies such as microchipping that we have today. One man from Phoenix actually received a call from the American Kennel Club on New Year’s Eve about a dog he lost in 2017. He was sure that he was being scammed, but he was about to get the greatest news in his life.
Local photographer Paul Guilbeault lost his miniature Doberman Pinscher named Damion in 2017. Damion was actually a foster dog when he received him from a friend, hoping to rehome the dog. Guilbeault, who was previously a pet store owner, is the perfect one to adopt the dog. He ends up loving Damion, so he decides to keep him for himself.
Guilbeault moved from Arizona to Massachusetts, where he originally resided with Damion. After almost a year, he moved back to Arizona with Damion. He drove for miles, stopped in Oklahoma City for a rest, and went on a walk with the dog. Guilbeault was keeping the Doberman pinscher from walking on the road when suddenly, he started running away.
According to Guilbeault, Damion was probably fed up with being scolded or scared that he suddenly ran away. With that, Guilbeault followed the dog through the service road, but he couldn’t catch him since the dog was fast.
Guilbeault decided to stay for another week in Oklahoma City to try to find Damion. He posted flyers and wrote on local Facebook groups but had no luck finding his dog. Eventually, he had to return to Arizona and continue with his life while hoping that Damien would soon turn up.
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The Good News
In January 2025, Guilbeault drove with his husband Julian to California to donate clothes for the fire victims. At this moment, he received a call from an unknown caller. It turns out the American Kennel Club said that a man from Oklahoma City had found Damion on December 21, 2024.
Guilbeault couldn’t believe what he was hearing that he pulled over immediately as he was getting emotional and freaking out at the same time. He started to question if he was being scammed since he lost Damion years ago. But the phone calls that Guilbeault had been repeatedly sending to voicemail were actually the news he’d been longing to hear. It turned out not to be a scam since Damion was really found on the road by a couple from Oklahoma City.
Damion was actually microchipped under the American Kennel Club, but he couldn’t be located until someone scanned the microchip on him. It all happened eight years later when he was taken to the vet and alerted as a missing dog.
Guilbeault and his husband immediately drove for 14 hours to Oklahoma City, where they picked up Damion. Guilbeault said that Damion was happy to see him and that he still recognized him. Sadly, they have no idea where he went all these years. Guilbeault didn’t think that someone took care of him since his fingernails were so overgrown. They didn’t have any idea how Damion came to survive on his own.
The dog is visibly older since he was said to be 13 to 14 years old already when he was found. Guilbeault said that he looks more like a chihuahua than a miniature Doberman pinscher.
Thankfully, Damion is doing great now under his care, and he even got along with Guilbeault’s two wolf dogs mixed with Malamute and Border Collie. Guilbeault said that Damion even recognized his parents’ house in Arizona, where they lived the last time they were together.
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From The Club
Guilbeault finding Damion years later is amazing enough, but the part that makes me wonder is the mystery behind Damion’s survival. How did he go on all these years without anyone caring for him or even a dog shelter rescuing him? The signs point out that he was a stray dog for years. As a dog owner, it breaks my heart to think of the dire conditions that he went through. Still, Damion is one strong dog that can survive all of it.