Brittany Carloni

USA Today Network - Florida

It was Father’s Day in 2009 when Tessa the Yorkshire terrier went missing after someone left a gate open while Louise Friedlander was visiting on Fort Myers Beach.

Friedlander, of North Naples, spent hours that day looking for Tessa, who was wearing a collar with Friedlander’s contact information. She would spend the following months placing ads in newspapers, recruiting friends to canvass neighborhoods and posting fliers near every entrance of Fort Myers Beach.

Despite her efforts, Friedlander didn’t find Tessa. She was heartbroken that, despite Tessa wearing identification, no one ever contacted her.

“I never thought she would come back,” she said.

But eight years later, Friedlander’s phone rang. It was 3 a.m. June 30, and a Lee County animal control officer told her Tessa had been found wandering loose outside a Cape Coral Fire Department station. Friedlander was reunited with her beloved dog at Lee County Domestic Animal Services in Fort Myers eight years after Tessa disappeared on Fort Myers Beach.

Ten years ago, and two years before Tessa disappeared, a breeder had brought a group of Yorkshire terrier puppies to Friedlander’s home, where she picked out two dogs: Ted and Tessa. Friedlander loved both puppies, but there was something unique about Tessa.

“She loved every dog. She has an aura where other dogs are friendly to her,” Friedlander said. “She has no fear of other dogs or people, and they don’t seem to attack her.”

Tessa and Ted were two of a trio of Yorkshire terriers Friedlander owned. The third dog was named Lovey. After Tessa disappeared in 2009, Friedlander got a Yorkie named Nick to join Lovey and Ted. When Lovey later died of shock from a bee sting, Friedlander brought Mia, another Yorkshire terrier, into her home to join Nick and Ted.

On June 23, Friedlander had to put down Ted because of seizures.

“After Ted passed away, I made up my mind that I wasn’t going to get any more dogs,” Friedlander said. “That was it.”

But one week later, she received the call she never expected: Tessa had been found.

Five sleepless hours after the phone call, Friedlander drove to Lee County Domestic Animal Services. Staff took her in front of Tessa’s cage and asked Friedlander if Tessa was her dog.

“I said, ‘Tessa, it’s Mama!’ She jumped up on the cage and she wagged her tail and licked my hand and she smiled, like a Pepsodent smile,” Friedlander said.

Before she could take her home, Friedlander had to make sure Tessa received shots and was spayed. Outside of mouth and ear infections, Tessa, now 10, was a healthy dog.

Friedlander didn’t know what to expect when she brought Tessa back to her North Naples home. Tessa had been gone for eight years, and Friedlander had two Yorkshire terriers Tessa had never met.

“I thought I was going to have World War III, but it’s been just fine,” she said.

And Tessa felt right at home.

“It was really bizarre, because I put her out in the courtyard and it was like she recognized it. She checked everything out,” Friedlander said. “When she walked into my bedroom, I have this little plastic step stool for them to get onto my bed; at that point she just put her paws on it. She knew what it was for.”

In the last month since Tessa returned to Friedlander’s home, Tessa has lost weight. She also had warts removed and 17 teeth pulled because of infection. Tessa wears a small protective blue coat so she doesn’t chew on her stitches.

For Friedlander, it is a joy to have Tessa back in her home.

“I love my kids. I don’t have children, so these are my kids,” she said. “Tessa is back and, oh my gosh, she has a very domineering personality. She’s really a character, but they all get along.”

Friedlander wants others to learn from her story and microchip their pets. If she hadn’t chipped Tessa as a puppy, Friedlander might have never gotten her dog back.

“The chip is really important, because I knew I would have gotten her back at some point,” she said. “But eight years later — nobody’s ever heard of that.”

Tessa remains a happy dog, enjoying chewy dog treats and daily exercises with Nick, 7, and Mia, 5, Friedlander’s two other Yorkies.

When Friedlander sees Tessa around her home, she can’t help but think about Ted, the dog she had to put down one week before Tessa was found.

“I truly believe that it was a miracle and that Ted brought her back,” Fried­lander said.