NYC Woman Reunited With Dog 3 Years After It Went Missing In South Carolina

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- It was a surreal reunion. A woman in Queens thought her dog died after it ran away three years ago, but on Friday she got a phone call.

Someone had her dog and was willing to drive 600 miles to bring it back to her.

CBS2's Lisa Rozner was there Sunday for the heartwarming meeting.

She's got big brown eyes and loves to give kisses. That's why Flushing resident Dedra Crawford adopted the shepherd mix she named "Chi-Chi" in 2009, when she lived in South Carolina.

"She was so happy, so we said we gonna get her right there," Crawford said.

But six years later -- in 2015 -- the dog ran away right before a catastrophic flood.

"I didn't hear anything about her. I called shelters. I called sanitation people. I called everywhere," Crawford said.

When asked by CBS2's Rozner if she shed a lot of tears, Crawford said, "A lot of tears, yes."

Crawford and her family moved back to Queens, but on Friday she got a phone call from South Carolina.

"I said, 'I think we have your dog,'" said Dawn Pennington, an adoption coordinator at Kershaw County Humane Society.

Pennington said a family brought the 10-year-old senior dog into the Humane Society in Kershaw County as a stray. Chi-Chi had a microchip behind her neck.

"So we were able to find her owner via the microchip company," Pennington said.

Dawn sent Dedra a picture.

"I said, 'You got Chi-Chi?!?' And I was just going through a crisis and I forgot everything I was going through," Crawford said.

And then Pennington offered to bring Chi-Chi on a 12-hour drive up north. On Sunday, they reunited at Kissena Park and only CBS2 was there.

"Oh my God. It feels like a blessing. I'm just so happy right now. And she's back with us again and shes healthy looking," Crawford said.

And this wasn't the first time the chip helped Chi-Chi be reunited with her owner. There was one other time Crawford said Chi-Chi was found thanks to the chip, but this reunion she called a "miracle."

So now?

"Take her for a walk, and just have fun with her. Just love her for all the years she missed," Crawford said.

And despite the time away, it looks like Chi-Chi is loving her right back.