Missing Arkansas dog reunited with owner more than 1,000 miles away in Tarboro

Habooki Shepmann owns Disco’s Grill in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Her food truck is named after her 12-year-old dog, Disco.

Shepmann said she was headed out of town Dec. 28 when she got an alarming call.

"I wake up [to] a call from my housekeeper asking if we have taken Disco with us. She was just frantic,” Shepmann said.

Shepmann said she flew home from her travels and turned to the Eureka Springs Community for help finding her beloved dog. In a series of Facebook posts, she sounded the alarm that Disco was missing.

"It turned into days of searching. I canvased my neighborhood door to door, and I put [out] hundreds and hundreds of fliers,” she said.

Soon Shepmann’s search expanded beyond Eureka Springs. After celebrating the new year without her dog, Shepmann saw a post on a lost pets forum that Disco had been spotted at the Sara Lee Frozen Bakery in Tarboro. Workers recognized the dog from identifying features.

In a Jan. 3 Facebook post, Shepmann confirmed it was Disco based on a distinctive yellow bandana.

"It’s absolutely Disco. She’s currently trapped inside the gate of a massive Sara Lee plant, and animal control has a group of five people working to try and catch her," the Jan. 3 post said.

"I’m refreshing Facebook, and ‘boom’ this picture pops up of this dog that has been found in North Carolina," Shepmann said.

Shepmann connected with the Edgecombe County Animal Shelter that kept an eye on Disco as Shepmann made her way from Arkansas to North Carolina.

Kathy Williams, a volunteer with the shelter, stayed in touch with Shepmann and provided updates as they all worked to track Disco down.

"We’ve never had anybody put that much effort into finding her dog," Williams said.

After more than a week, Shepmann and Disco were reunited in Tarboro.

"To see that it was actually her and [to] finally get my hands on her and just be able to feel her body and know she was okay [was amazing]," She said.

Shepmann said she later learned Disco was taken from her home and driven cross-country by someone she knew. The journey ended after that person got in a wreck, and Disco jumped out of the car.

Shepmann said she owes it all to the people who helped track Disco down. She said she plans to make a donation to the Edgecombe County Animal Shelter for their help.