Chilean police dog returns after 7 days missing

Didier, a drug-sniffing dog assigned to police in the northern Chilean city of Arica, “went home Monday” after being lost for seven days.

According to a police report, the animal returned without any help from anyone at around 6 am Monday.

Lt. Col. Claudio Hermosilla told reporters that officials at the police installation in Cuya, near the Peruvian border, noticed that a dog very similar to Didier had come inside.

Hermosilla said that after confirming by means of an implanted chip that it was indeed the dog that disappeared from the station seven days ago, they proceeded to feed and hydrate it and immediately call its handler, a policewoman who considers it her “true son.”

The handler recognized Didier immediately in a photo her fellow cops shared with her on her cell phone.

She went at once to Cuya for the joyful reunion.

Hermosilla said that social media played an important part in the search for Didier.

“And that’s why we as an institution want to thank members of the community for their affection and support, because over these platforms they joined in our search that ended with the handler and her dog getting back together again this morning in the town of Cuya,” he said.