Blue, the pit bull mix puppy who got separated from her owner in Lehigh Acres, Florida, and was later found in Michigan, went home last weekend, back to the sunshine and warm weather.

But, instead of a happy homecoming, Blue's owner decided to let her go.

"She gave up the dog, after I drove more than 1,400 miles," the Grand Blanc woman who tried to return Blue said Monday. "The only thing she said was she doesn't have time to train the dog, she doesn't have time for the dog."

It's a story filled with mystery, compassion, warmth — and now sadness.

But, there's hope for a happy ending if someone in Michigan is willing to adopt the pup.

The 40-year-old driver, a volunteer who took vacation time from work to deliver Blue, asked that the Free Press not publish her name. She said the dog's reunion with her owner was both heartbreaking and frustrating.

"I just kinda just put my hands up, like 'OK, well, if you don't want the dog.' " she said. "If I left the dog at the house, it was just going to run away again. While I was talking, somebody else came to the door and the dog just took off. I knew it wasn't going to be a good situation."

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The volunteer is now driving Blue back in her Chevy Blazer to the Midland shelter where she was picked up in hopes the puppy that has gone back and forth between Florida and Michigan can be adopted.

"Blue is a great dog!" the woman said. "She jumps on everybody and gives kisses."

But, the animal-loving driver added, she already has four dogs and just can't take in another one.

Almost a year old and about 35 pounds, Blue either was stolen or escaped her home in Florida earlier this month. The dog mysteriously made her way to Michigan. No one seems to know how she initially got to Michigan.

Blue was found March 3 on a country road in Midland and taken to the Humane Society of Midland County, which discovered through a microchip implant her owner lived in Florida.

The shelter then contacted the dog's owner and found her a ride home.

The volunteer, along with her 37-year-old brother, started their long drive Friday morning. They spent the night in a hotel just outside Atlanta, and by Saturday night they made it to the owner's front door.

When they got to the house, the driver said, Blue was "very excited" and seemed happy she was going to be reunited with her owner.

The dog owner's mother greeted the driver at the door. The owner, who is 22, has had three dogs and all of them have been stolen or run away, the volunteer driver said.

"I'll probably bring her back to the shelter because I can't bring her back home," the volunteer driver said from Florida. "I'm packing up, and will try to make the full stretch back to Michigan today."

Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.