Her Dog Vanished in 2017. Then She Saw the Beer Can

Monica Mathis has no idea how Hazel, missing for more than two years, got from Iowa to Florida—but Mathis is now excited to welcome her home to Minnesota. Hazel is Mathis' dog, a terrier mix who vanished from Mathis' yard in 2017. "She was an escape artist, she was very good at ... getting loose," Mathis tells WWSB. "Knocking me over just to get out the door." Per KSTP, Mathis desperately searched for her lost dog, visiting local shelters, but Hazel appeared to be gone for good—and Mathis eventually packed up her kids to make a move to Minnesota, where a new job awaited. Last month, however, a stroke of luck and an eagle eye brought astounding news: WFTS reports Mathis was on Facebook when she spotted a story about a Florida brewery that was imprinting the faces of dogs that Manatee County Animal Services wanted to adopt out.

As Mathis was perusing the story, her gaze fixated on one beer can in particular. "I was like, 'Oh, my gosh, that looks like my dog,'" she recalls. "I was amazed, I was crying. An emotional wreck," she adds to KSTP. A rep from the animal shelter says Mathis called them immediately, and that while Hazel—who'd been renamed Day Day—did have a microchip with identifying information, a different last name for Mathis was listed, as well as other outdated info. Mathis forked over photos of Hazel and veterinarian records to prove the dog was hers, and Hazel is now set to arrive at her new/old home, with the animal shelter covering the costs of the dog's long journey back to her owner. "I’m just so happy that I’m getting her back," Mathis tells WFTS. (More strange stuff stories.)