Recently, Sally Butters got to experience something few dog owners whose pets go missing ever do. Her dog, gone for nine years, finally found her way back home, as The Sacramento Bee reports.

Gigi, a toy poodle, disappeared from Butters’ Florin, California home during a 2007 robbery. After so many years of fruitless searching, the 78-year-old dog owner assumed Gigi was dead, but she still kept a missing pet sign on her front door.

In late November, a stranger found the 13-year-old, 4-pound dog wandering around in a nearby Sacramento neighborhood, and took the clearly neglected dog to the vet, who shaved her matted hair and took care of her ear infections. When vet hospital workers scanned Gigi’s microchip, they found Butters’ contact information.

The owner and her missing dog were finally reunited early this month.

[h/t The Sacramento Bee]