Juan Glover was delighted to be reunited with his companion dog Casey last week after a ranger found Casey in Cobargo on Tuesday, October 4.
The five-year old black Labrador went missing from the Glover family's holiday accommodation in Bermagui on September 24.
Juan's father, Peter Glover, tried everything to find Casey before they had to return to their home in the mountains outside Canberra.
Bermagui's main street was lined with professionally printed posters with Casey's photo offering a $500 reward.
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"We posted on every page in Facebook we could find, put an ad in Narooma News and it was on the local radio station," he said.
As the days passed, Mr Glover increased the reward to $1000 and engaged a pet detective.
Before the pet detective started work, a ranger rang to say he had Casey.
Unanswered questions
It remains a mystery how Casey got from Bermagui to Cobargo, but Mr Glover suspected "someone has picked her up, taken her to Cobargo, seen the posters and decided to turn her in".
At one point a woman from Cobargo who had seen the posters in Bermagui rang Mr Glover to say she had seen a dog in Cobargo that might be Casey.
She offered to take some of the posters and put them up in Cobargo, for which Mr Glover said he was very grateful and hoped to speak to her again to personally thank her.
He also suspected someone had taken Casey to a vet during those missing days.
"The vet who examined Casey after the ranger picked her up gave us a report saying she had a number of infections, but that she had been taken care of" as if she had already been treated by a vet, Mr Glover said.
Surprised by people's support
"Juan is delighted that she's back and Casey was doing cartwheels, she was that excited.
"She was trying to jump up on her back legs, jumping up and rolling over, like she was pumped with adrenaline, crazy happy,"
As for Mr Glover and rest of his family - "we are ecstatic, over the moon," he said.
"We lost a member of the family for a while.
"It is impossible not to love this dog," Mr Glover said.
Mr Glover was surprised at people's compassion and offers for help.
He never gave up on finding Casey.
"If I had given up hope I wouldn't have been prepared to get the pet detective on board.
"I was determined we were going to find her."
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