FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – A dog recently surrendered to Fort Wayne Animal Care and Control (FWACC) has been reunited with his former owner who drove from Florida to bring him home.

Capone arrive at FWACC on Monday after his current owners surrendered him. They had recently moved to the area from Florida.

“Just like we do for all of the animals, we checked for a microchip. Often we find that the microchip goes back to a previous owner or, you know, maybe he was found somewhere and has been rehomed since. So we always do that as a safeguard,” said Holly Pasquinelli, community relations and education specialist at FWACC.

When Capone’s microchip was scanned it directed the shelter to a woman living in Florida.

“We said ‘we have your dog. We’re in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He’s at the shelter, and you are the legal owner because your information is linked to the microchip. Would you like to reclaim him or here’s the pathway’,” Pasquinelli said.

The woman immediately told the shelter that she would reclaim him and began making her way from the Sunshine State to Fort Wayne.

When she arrived Pasquinelli said Capone instantly recognized his previous owner and she began to cry.

“It was just a really happy moment,” Pasquinelli said.

The shelter gave Capone’s owner supplies to make the trip back to Florida more comfortable.

“Before she could even get anything set up in the car he was in the back of the car like, ‘Let’s go!’,” Pasquinelli said.

She added that this is the furthest anyone has traveled to reclaim their pet since she has worked there and proves the power of a microchip.

FWACC want to remind owners to have their animals microchipped just in case they were to ever get lost. The shelter offers microchips for just $15. For more information visit FWACC’s website.