Massachusetts family reunited with dog found in Bethel

PORTLAND (WGME) – A Massachusetts family was reunited with their dog after it disappeared and somehow wound up in Bethel, Maine.

Kaiser went missing in June 2018.

He escaped by jumping a six-foot fence in Ashby, Massachusetts.

The big dog was spotted a couple times, but his owners were always one step behind.

Eight months later, Kaiser was spotted two states away, in Bethel, Maine.

“I said, ‘That's a huge dog, but he had real long fur, so he'll be OK with the cold,’” rescuer Jerome Holt said.

A couple in Bethel noticed a dog had eaten food on their porch.

They eventually caught Kaiser, and turned him over to animal control.

Kaiser was taken to a shelter in South Paris.

Days later, the shelter received a call from a woman who recognized him from Facebook.

Morgan Miles from the shelter says she had an inkling to call him by his name.

“He just whipped his head up and stared me in the eye like, ‘Hey, I know that name, that sounds familiar,’ and I was like, ‘Oh boy, I think that's him,’” Miles said.

The owner drove up in a snowstorm to greet his dog, Miles says it took a few seconds for Kaiser to recognize who he was, but after picking up a familiar scent, Kaiser was finally home.

It's still unclear how Kaiser journeyed to Maine, but if it wasn't for social media, Kaiser might still be headed north.