It’s hard to say goodbye to a loved one, even if they may not understand what “goodbye” means. When the Harworth Family relocated to South Korea from Fort Bragg, they had to leave behind Zeus, the family dog. Putting Zeus under the care of a family friend, they took off for Asia in 2012 with the hopes that they would see Zeus again.
Just a few months later, the friend told Ben Harworth that his beloved Chow Chow-German Shepherd-Rottweiler-mixed best friend had died. The family was devastated.
Time went on and the Harworth’s pain over losing their family friend slowly eased and life continued as it always had — but that’s not where the story ends.
Much after the dog’s reported demise, Laura Williams of Durham, N.C., picked up what looked like a Rottweiler along the roadside. It was thin and gaunt but otherwise looked like a healthy dog. She picked him up and took him to the nearby Banfield Pet Hospital where veterinarians found the canine was microchipped. The information on the chip told them that the dog’s name was Zeus and that he belonged to the Harworth Family.
The Raleigh-based hospital called the Harworths — who were living in Washington State in 2015. When the family found out their beloved Zeus, presumed dead for three years, was actually alive, they were ecstatic.
“We all got chills,” Williams told Raleigh’s CBS affiliate WNCN. “The girl from the vet got chills. I got goosebumps and I almost started crying because, for the past three years, they thought their dog was dead.”
The hospital arranged a Skype reunion between the family and their dog – Zeus’ tail wagged furiously for the entire duration. Sadly, this was the only meeting they could arrange at the time. Zeus was suffering from heartworm and was unable to fly the 3,000 miles to the Harworths’ new home.
But don’t worry — the story doesn’t end there, either.
Banfield Pet Hospital covered the cost of treating Zeus’ heartworm, but the employees there went a step further. Banfield’s practice manager, Rachel Overby, decided to drive Zeus home. She took him nearly 3,000 miles to reunite Zeus with his family after three long years.
Zeus was met by Ben, Melody, and the entire Harworth family (along with a crew of reporters who followed the journey on Instagram with the hashtag #GetZeusHome). Tears no doubt filled everyone’s eyes as Zeus climbed out of the van that made the cross-country trip to get him home.
The only difference in the Harworth family was the addition of Bear, a nine-pound Chihuahua that joined the family after Zeus’ supposed death.
No one is sure why the Harworths’ family friend told them Zeus passed away or even how Zeus managed to make it from the Fayetteville area to the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina. The Harworths hadn’t spoken to that friend in the three years since Zeus’ alleged passing.
