A Chula Vista dog is back home after being missing for two years.
The pooch, named Marilyn Monroe, went missing after a garage door was left open in Gaby Barajas’ Otay Ranch home
The dog’s disappearance sparked a family search for the dog.
Barajas and her family went door-to-door searching for Marilyn Monroe, but to no avail.
Barajas said she even had fliers made and plastered all around the neighborhood.
And there was still no sign of the soon to be 7-year-old dog.
She had initially thought that the dog was up to her old tricks.
“I wasn’t giving up hope because unfortunately it wasn’t the first time that it had happened,” Barajas said. Besides, Marilyn Monroe had been microchipped.
But as time went by, Barajas, 25, conceded that she thought the dog she received as a gift for her 19th birthday from her parents and three brothers was gone for good.
“A year went by and here I am frantically losing hope,” Barajas said. “She’s a cute little dog so I assumed that somebody got her and I was just hoping she was in a good home.”
Barajas said on June 4 she and her brother Jose were texting back and fourth, when all of a sudden, he tells her that he received a call from the Chula Vista Animal Care Facility that said they have Marilyn Monroe.
But Barajas didn’t believe him.
“As I read the text, I was thinking to myself, ‘What kind of joke is my brother playing,’” she said. “So I called him immediately.”
Jose called the animal care facility and picked up the long-lost pet that day.
Barajas said she doesn’t know the details of the adventures of Marilyn Monroe.
She said the animal care facility just told her that they picked up the dog on Palm Avenue.
“We were thinking maybe somebody had her on Palm Avenue, she escaped and the dog pound just happened to see her on the street,” Barajas said.
When Barajas and Marilyn Monroe met for the first time in two years, Barajas said they recognized each other right away. Barajas said the dog ran right into her arms.
Barajas said her pet dog did not look the same from when it left. She said the dog was raggedy, it was missing teeth and malnourished,
Barajas said she recommends any dog owner to get their pet microchipped.
“Even if you’re losing hope, you never know, you might get that call two years later, two months later that they found your dog,” she said. “I do recommend it, it’s not going to take a chunk out of your pocket.
The dog has finally made herself at home, Barajas said.
