CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Corpus Chrisi local, Thomas Figueroa admits he's a bit rough around the edges.
"I've been incarcerated before," said Figueroa. "and I got anger issues, but I'm on medication."
But if there's one girl who could bring out his soft side, it was his dog, Princess.
"My family is not too much into hugging and all that. So I trained my dog to jump up on my chest to jump up and kiss me and all that." he said.
Which is why an incident about four years left Figueroa devastated. Figueroa believes someone took his dog.
"My neighbor said somebody drove off with her." Figueroa explained.
For months Figueroa searched the streets hoping to find his Princess. He said he filed a report with animal services and local law enforcement, but still had no luck finding her.
He added, "I would get mad at my son and my mom when they'd bring her up because I done gave up on her."
But this summer Corpus Christi Animal Care found her.
"She looked like she had a rough time," said Joel Skidmore a program manager for Animal Care Services. "We had a call for service over at the HEB tennis courts. Somebody called her in saying she looked sick. We found her early June and we found her, we were able to impound her. She got care from the clinic staff and she got care from the shelter staff as well.
Princess did have a microchip, but there was one problem. The information on her chip wasn't updated.
"Princess sat here for a couple of months, because the information we had was inaccurate. We actually had to track the owner down on Facebook and thankfully he was very appreciative that we went through the lengths to find him." Skidmore said.
It is unknown where the dog was during the last few years before Animal Care Services found her.
Animal Care Services still says microchips are important and it is a city ordinance.
Animal Care Services microchips animals for free Monday to Friday from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at its office on the 2626 Holly Road. No appointment is necessary.
