What looked like a last-chance plea for a 12-year-old shelter dog in Utah turned into a reunion with her past.

ABC4 reported the dog, known at Sandy City Animal Services in Sandy, Utah, as Posty, had been living at the shelter after her family said her size and energy had become difficult to manage around a young child.

The dog had once lived indoors, but after the family dynamic changed, she was moved outside before eventually being surrendered, according to ABC4. The family could not contend with Posty’s size and her desire to get back indoors with the family.

Shelter staff told ABC4 they had already seen signs of the dog’s personality.

“Despite everything, staff have already seen glimpses of the sweet girl she is, especially when she gets outside and suddenly bursts into joyful little zoomies around the yard,” they said.

ABC4 reported that local resident Kristen Reams shared a rescue appeal for the older dog. The post eventually reached Chawde Johnson, who thought the dog looked familiar.

Johnson and her son both have mental and physical disabilities and had a dog of their own for nearly a decade, ABC4 reported. Johnson and others then went to the shelter to find out if the hunch was right.

It was. ABC4 reported that the dog being called Posty was actually Zora, a state-certified service dog from 2017 to 2023 before Johnson’s family fell on hard times.

The reunion continued after that. ABC4 reported Johnson said Zora later reconnected with her cat, Frankenfurter, who had lived alongside her for nine years.

“She has literally saved my sanity, my physical body and heart,” Johnson said of Zora, according to ABC4.

ABC4 also reported Johnson said she would have taken the dog home even if it had not been Zora.

“Call this luck. Call this fate. I call this a miracle,” Johnson said, per ABC4.

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