


Six years ago, a double disaster struck a Florida family.
First, their house burned down. Forced to move into a motel, they told People they had to find someone to take care of their German shepherd, Bella.
Sadly, they were later heartbroken to learn that the person they had entrusted with their dog had given Bella away to a stranger without their permission.
That was the last Lisa and Jason Nicholson saw of their beloved family pet for six years.
But one morning in early August, Lisa Nicholson told ABC News that her daughter, Liberty, now 18, told her she’d had a dream about Bella.
Then, just two days later, the family got a phone call from the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, 200 miles away from St. Cloud, where they now live.
Bella had been found.
The Fort Lauderdale Fire Department had been called to a local canal with a report of a dog struggling in the water.
That incident had attracted the attention of local media, including WTVJ-TV, which captured video of the dog being lifted out of the water and later receiving care at the fire department.
The story started to gain wider media attention after a new development: Police discovered a microchip in the dog that had been implanted in 2018.
That chip led them to the Nicholson family.
“I believe it was a God miracle,” Lisa told WTVT-TV.
“It started with a dream, and the dream came true two days later.”
She elaborated for ABC News: “I just said, ‘This has got to be God here,’ because… my daughter has a dream, and then all of a sudden the dog appears after about six years? Like, it’s a dream come true.”
The reunion at a Fort Lauderdale Park was joyful.
“Bella immediately recognized the family,” People reported.
Lisa said that the reunion “felt like our family was made whole again — like being reunited with a long-lost friend.”
She said Bella was given a welcome home party “with a bunch of doggie treats and new toys.”
“We gave her a steak and she loved it! She also got a new doggie bed.”
The incident has made the Nicholson family into huge cheerleaders for pet microchipping.
“Anybody out there that does not believe that [microchips] work, they truly, truly work,” Nicholson told ABC News.
“That was how [the police] were able to locate us, through the microchip, because they had all of our information.”
To those critical of their original decision to place the dog with a friend after the fire, she added, “I want people to understand that when people are able to get their dogs back [after] any situation, don’t think bad of them, because we suffered too. We were heartbroken too, but now our hearts have been mended.”
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