It’s always painful when you lose your best friend. I’m not even talking about having them pass away.

Sometimes, they move far away, cut off all interaction with you, or even go missing. Can you imagine having that happen with your best friends?

Losing a best friend is painful, but it does happen to a lot of people. It happens whether your best friend walks on two legs or four.

Well, check out Joshua Edwards’ story.

The Miami resident loved his Rottweiler to death. Joshua had more than one canine companion, but the Rottweiler is rather central to this story.

One day that Joshua was out, he left the yard gates closed so his dogs could run around. Normally, having secure fences and gates makes you confident that no pets escape while you’re out.

Well, through some mysterious circumstances, Joshua came home to an empty yard.

No open gates, but no dogs.

The dog that was so near and dear to him disappeared. If there were at least some clues to work with, it might not have been as bad. However, there really was nothing to go by.

They might as well have vanished.

His dog was chipped, though he had no contact or word about the dog for a while. A microchip on a lost pet is no use if people think it’s just a stray.

Still, you would think a Rottweiler would be pretty strange and out of place as a stray.

Joshua had to just hope and wait that the dog would come back. Somehow. Eventually, a whole eight years went by without his dog.

I don’t think they were an easy eight years at all. Missing the one piece of sunshine you always had can really change you, and not for the better.

His Rottweiler was still a young pup when he lost him. While most dogs can live longer than 8 years, the world out there is scary.

Anything could have happened.

Joshua had no idea where his dog was, or how it was doing. This was until Joshua got a call from the chip company informing him that they located a dog registered to him.

The dog’s name was Duke.

Joshua wondered if this was his dog. He knew of a few people named Duke, so he thought it’d be worth checking out.

He went to the pet shelter that housed the mystery dog. Could this really be his missing best friend? Such a long time passed that it was almost hard to believe.

The staff member came out with a big Rottweiler, and it seems to have slowly recognized Joshua.

Joshua’s reaction – his body language and speechlessness – tells it all.

This was the dog he was looking for. And now it was back with him all these years later. Somehow, it was still alive, well, and happy to see him.

It may just be a little tear-jerking to us, but Joshua actually cried. Watching the resulting scene is nothing except heartfelt and sweet.

I can imagine Joshua’s feelings are a stream of “Where’d you go? What happened? Do you still remember me?”

Although his actual words were the following :

“The anticipation in that moment…it’s a lot of build up. To see him walk out the door and just immediately go back to being the puppy I remembered. I never thought that would be possible.” – he said while choking and tearing up

Against all odds, they were reunited.

They never forgot each other after all those years, just as expected from best friends.

Thank goodness Duke is safe and sound. Now Joshua found the piece of him that was missing all this time.

Maria Elena Cartaya is the person responsible for reuniting Duke and Joshua. She found the lost Rottweiler and checked its chip.

The rest was history.

Joshua, of course, couldn’t thank her enough. Hey, he can at least try.

It’s really best if you watch the entire scene yourself.

Play the clip of their reunion below!

Please SHARE this with your friends and family.

Source: Miami Herald on YouTube, Petfinder.com