Pawrent’s soul dog who slipped passed broken door lock surprisingly found waiting at home for his dog mom to return from hours of frantic searching, mom says: ‘I’m just very proud of him for being able to come back home.’

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Laurent Shinar • Writer and Editor
Jun 10, 2026 1:00 PM EDT

Often missing doggos take days, weeks or months to come home for their tearful reunion. Thankfully the story we have lined up for you today ended in a puddle of happy tears after only a few hours of daring doggo adventure in the outside world.

Stories such as this one from Reddit's r/dogs subreddit are actually less common than you might think. In no small part thanks to the fact that most door locks work well and there is no fear of them magically opening while we are not home. Unfortunately that was not the case for this pupper pawrent who came home one night to find an open door and a dogless apartment.

Sparking what must have been one the most frantic searches conducted in the last year. The feeling of potentially losing your best doggo pal is one that no pawrent ought to experience. But thankfully as any good story does, this one ends on a high note and within much less time than anyone expected the pupper found its way back into its pawrent's arms. So kick back, grab some tissues because it's going to get emotional and prepaw for quite the puplifting tail.

 

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    "Once I reached my floor, there he was running to me. Crying."
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    My dog is kind of the only family I have, after my mum passed away and my dad abandoned us.
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    It wasn't easy at all - back then my dad would constantly use him to blackmail me, lock him in when I wasn't at home, once, he sent him away when I wasn't around. and I
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    was unable to travel or do my semester abroad like my friends did. But my mum loved him, and he was my only family. He had already lost my
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    mum, so I wasn't going to send him away to an unknown and strange place. Surviving on part time jobs and still in
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  • Even with all the variety of dog stories that we hear about it, this is such a special connection to have to a pupper. Dogs have helped more than a few people get through some seriously tough times. And it seems that this pupper has been through the mill with his pawrent, through thick and thin they stuck together as one inseparable team. Taking one careful step at a time to heal and grow together. Such bonds even in the hooman world are rare and it is such a delight to be hearing off this marvelous relationship. Even if things are about to go south…
     

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    school I would make sure he eats enough, goes to the vet, and so on. Things have gotten better I now live alone with my
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    brother and graduated with a full time job, able to live comfortably. But life hasn't been so easy in other
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    aspects and most of the time it was just me and him. I thought I was taking care of him and making sure he is safe and sound
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    living with me - but I think I was the one who needed him. That day I went home and the door was left ajar (I think
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    the lock has spoilt) and my dog was not around. My phone was dd, it was 12AM, so d n scared I ran down the stairs level by level to try to search
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    for him. (I'm staying in a high rise flat) A group of strangers hanging around the park below my apartment asked if I was looking for my
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  • Oh goodness what a predicament to be in. it is harrowing enough to come home to your front door sitting there slightly ajar. But for your dog to be gone and your phone to have no battery, well that is just defeating right there. With no one to call and no time to waste, what else can you do other than run and search with all the speed and energy you have left in your body. We cannot imagine what it must have felt like to get to the bottom of all those floors having failed to find your pup, all the while thinking of what could happen to him out on the streets alone…
     

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    dog - they have seen him ran towards the other direction just 5 mins ago. And there I was spending almost an
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    hour in the middle of the night running around the whole neighbour hood shouting for my dog - what if someone took him away? What if he got knocked down by a
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    car? What if I neber see him again? I think that was one of the most traumatizing thing I've went through in awhile. Later, I decided to
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    go back home and find the other phone so I can call for help - after all the area was big and I wasn't going to take the risk to let my dog spend the night alone outside.
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    I climbed the stairs up (my level wasn't exactly near the ground) - but once I reached my floor and there he was running to me. Crying.
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    So I guess he took a little adventure on his own and then somehow know enough to climb the stairs and go back home on his own.
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    I don't know. I guess I'm just very proud of him for being able to come back home. And this post sounds a bit emotional because that moment really made me experience how (bad) life would
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    be if he is not around which I also fear is soon since he is old. But happy to have him back home safe and sound. And isn't he a genius dog!!!
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    And thank you to the kind strangers that night who helped me find my dog.
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searching door surprising found lock dog mom waiting slip reddit story pawrents broken dog story at home soul dog
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