Beer Can Guides Owner To Dog Missing Since 2017

Have you ever heard the saying about things going "from bad to worse?" This is not one of those stories. On the contrary, this is a tale of a good thing leading to an even greater one, leaving us all wallowing in a nice, heartwarming glow while trying to remove the weird trash from our eye that makes it seem like we're crying (which we totally aren't). All right, so the setup is a bit sad, as KEYC tells us. In 2017, a woman called Monica Mathis experienced a tragedy when she lost her beloved dog, Hazel, and never saw her again ... or so she thought. 

There's a Florida brewery called MotorWorks, which works together with Manatee County Animal Services. In January 2020, they printed pictures of animals from the shelter on their beer cans in hopes of getting them adopted. It's a nice move, and it attracted plenty of attention. The cans went viral, and CBS Local notes they were even featured on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. One of the four dogs featured on the viral batch of cans was a sweet-looking pup the shelter called "Day-Day," and when Mathis saw a picture of that particular can on social media, she realized that there was something awfully familiar about the doggy in the picture. It was the long-lost Hazel.

A 'hoppy' reunion

To put the incredible odds involved in this reunion to context, it should be mentioned just how Hazel disappeared. In 2017, she demonstrated her talents as a notable "escape artist" so well that her disappearing act lasted a whole three years. As People notes, her family lived in Iowa at the time, and no one can even begin to guess what doggy adventures brought her to Florida, where she eventually ended up with Manatee County Animal Services' Shelter Manatee. While Hazel was microchipped, the information on the chip was out of date at that point. Since the shelter had no way to contact her human, she was eventually put up for adoption as "Day-Day." Then, she turned out to be one of the precious few dogs who ended up on the beer cans that went viral, and stayed so until Monica Mathis eventually saw them. Phew. Imagine the chances of all of that happening.

After an understandably emotional moment of realization — along with a flash of panic when she realized that someone might adopt Hazel before she can reach her — Mathis contacted the shelter. Fortunately, she'd retained all proof of ownership, so she could provide every necessary vet record and photo to prove that "Day-Day" was actually Hazel, and that Hazel was indeed her dog. And that, friends, is how a woman got her long-lost canine companion back in the most unlikely way possible. Well, at least she will, once Hazel gets his health certificate and is free to finally rejoin her family. There will be good things waiting for the artist formerly known as Day-Day: According to Mathis, "She's gonna be getting so much attention!" Here's hoping that the other pets waiting for adoption at Shelter Manatee have just as happy fates waiting for them.