Long Island Family Reunites With Lost Border Collie After 9 Months Apart

HOLBROOK, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- After nine heartbreaking months, a Long Island family has finally been reunited with its beloved border collie, Yo-yo.

"It's unimaginable," Steven Petras said.

As CBS2's Dave Carlin reported, Petras, his wife Christine, and children Tyler and Addision, of Holbrook, adopted the 4-year-old dog when he was just a 3-month-old puppy.

Then one day, Christine and Yo-yo were out for a walk and a stranger tried to pet him, causing him to break free and dart across two roadways into the woods.

The family spent days then weeks searching on foot, posting flyers all over the community, and even setting up cameras in the woods to try and catch a glimpse of him.

"The hardest part was just we didn't know, we didn't know what his fate was," Christine said.

Then on Monday, the family received a phone call saying Yo-yo had been found in the woods, stuck in a hunter's trap. Animal rescuers checked the chip to find the owners of the dog, who was very thin, very filthy and very skittish.

His vet believes given the condition of his paws, he was out in the woods the whole time, just a mile from his home.

"It's mind blowing that he was this close for so long," Christine said.

In the wooded area where Yo-yo was found, there's a fresh water stream and a colony of feral cats, and people often feed them.

The family said the reunion wasn't what you might expect. Yo-yo didn't wag his tale or jump up and down. He had been through so much.

Steven went alone to retrieve him.

"I squatted down on the floor and called his name, he came right over," he said.

As the saying goes, every dog has his day.