Man is reunited with his dog found 1,100 miles away

A Granger man's dog was found more than 1,100 miles away from home. Thanks to two kind-hearted ladies, the dog dubbed "Travelin' Ace" is back home.

Ace is a country dog. He roams freely on his owner Leroy Filla's 130 acre property in Granger.

Sometimes Ace runs a little too far.

"The neighbors know him very well," said Leroy's son Tommy Filla.

A couple years ago Ace wound up inside the Williamson County animal shelter and was microchipped. That would be a saving grace.

On December 14th, Ace got a wild hair and left home. Days later, Brannon Lewis took him in when a friend of hers found him more than 1,100 miles away in South Carolina.

"He is the sweetest dog," she said.

Lewis, who spoke with this by phone Tuesday night, took Ace to be scanned for a microchip.

"The vet whispered he's from Texas," said Lewis. "I thought 'oh my goodness how did he get here?'"

Tommy Filla thought the same thing when he got a call alerting him that Ace was found.

"I was like I don't think we can pick him up today," Filla joked.

"When Tommy said it was his dad's dog and he was older and struggling with Parkinson's, I was like we have to get him home," said Lewis.

Lewis dubbed the dog "Travelin' Ace" and through a post on Facebook she was able to recruit a driver named Kelly Warr.

Warr drove Ace to Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Saturday and took photos along the way. Filla drove the last leg, keeping everyone's efforts a secret from his dad.

"He called me [Sunday] morning and said, 'did you hear anything on my dog?' I said 'oh yeah I got him. We'll be there in a little bit with him,'" said Filla.

Filla got this video of the reunion and made sure Lewis saw it.

"Honestly made me tear up. It was the sweetest thing I'd ever seen," said Lewis.

The companions are together again. Hopefully for good this time.

"He's making him a little more of a house dog now," said Filla. "Thank you to everyone who came through. It's amazing what social media can do. It works wonders."

A truck driver later called the family and said he picked ace up at a truck stop in Jarrell and drove him to his home in South Carolina. He thought the dog was a stray and wanted to care for it. However, Ace then broke out of his back yard.

The Austin Animal Center does free microchipping all day every day for Travis County residents. It costs $18 dollars per year. A spokesperson says 35 to 40 percent of pets brought into the shelter are returned to their owners because of microchips.

Animal protection officers carry microchip scanners in vehicles and do returns in the field. So there are many more that aren't documented.