DENVER (CBS4) – A dog owner whose pet was accidentally adopted out to a new family is making a desperate plea to get his beloved animal back.

Korey Wetherell has taken his plea online by posting on social media for help in finding the family that adopted his dog Chewbacca following a mix-up at the Denver Animal Shelter.

“He’s been my best friend for basically four years now,” Wetherell said. “His name is Chewbacca, so I always joke that he’s my copilot.”

Last weekend Wetherell left his copilot in the hands of his roommates while he was out of town, and Chewbacca ran off.

“I couldn’t really be upset because it’s never happened before,” he said.

From 2,000 miles away Wetherell said he posted a missing dog ad on Craigslist, and soon learned Chewbacca was at the Denver Animal Shelter. He called the shelter and said he’d pick up his pet at the end of the week. But he wasn’t able to return in time.

“A friend went to go pick him up and was told he’d been adopted,” Wetherell said.

“Because animals are considered property, that animal was considered abandoned,” Jill Brown with the Denver Animal Shelter said.

The shelter said the 5-day window for owners to retrieve their lost pet had passed, so Chewbacca went to a new home. Yet in this case, that policy wasn’t exactly made clear.

“There was never anything said to me that, ‘It’s been two days, you know that after five we’ll put your dog up for adoption,’ ” Wetherell said.

“Reuniting is really important to us and we realize that there were miscommunications, not only on this side of the owner, but on the side of the shelter as well,” Brown said.

Wetherell said he’s not casting blame on the shelter or even the family that now has Chewbacca. He just wants his best friend back.

“You’re doing a great thing adopting a dog, but help a dog who really needs it; because Chewbacca doesn’t need a new set of arms to hold him. He has that here,” he said.

The Denver Animal Shelter said they’ve talked with the family who recently adopted Chewbacca, but they haven’t decided if they’ll bring him back.