Dog Left Behind Due to Pandemic Reunites with Family After 10K Mile Journey

A little dog was reunited with her family in Australia recently after a journey that took her approximately 136 days to complete.

Before the coronavirus pandemic hit, Pipsqueak the dachshund lived on a sailboat with the Eilbeck family who adopted her when they were in Sicily during their round the world tour, according to Travel and Leisure magazine.

The Eilbecks were in Florida when the pandemic began to spread and were forced to rush back to their home in Australia before the borders closed.

“This sadly meant that Pipsqueak could not make the journey home with them, since arranging for the dog’s travel would have been complicated and time-consuming,” the article read.

In March, Zoe Eilbeck took the dog to her friend Lynn Williams in North Carolina before catching a flight to Sydney, according to CNN.

However, Williams could not keep her for very long, so she advertised for a replacement and North Carolina resident Ellen Steinberg answered the call.

When it became clear the Eilbecks would not return to the United States for a while due to travel restrictions, it was decided that Pip would travel alone to Australia.

The CNN article continued:

Once they finally received an import permit for Australia, Qantas, the flag carrier of Australia, announced it was no longer flying dogs to the country. After many phone calls, Zoe discovered that the family could import Pip if they went through New Zealand and managed to get their little dog on a flight from Los Angeles to Auckland by booking via Australian pet transport company Jetpets.

Following a three month stay, Steinberg handed Pip off to her friend, Stacey Green.

Not long after, Melissa Young of the dog rescue organization the Sparky Foundation volunteered to fly with Pip across America and deliver her to JetPets for her flight from Los Angeles to Auckland.

Once she arrived, Pip spent time in mandatory quarantine then flew to Melbourne for another ten days in quarantine. Zoe’s brother Rob eventually took her home with him when all her flights to Sydney were canceled.

Thankfully, Virgin Australia heard about Pip’s journey and agreed to fly her home.

The Eilbecks feared she would not remember them, but the moment Pip stepped off the plane their worries were put to rest.

“When she heard our voices, she came barreling into our arms. It was absolutely amazing to have her back after all that time,” Zoe said.

Following their reunion, Zoe shared photos of Pip snuggled in her dog bed:

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Result!! She’s home! Can’t quite believe we did it, and what a journey little Pip has been on. That empty dogbed finally has a sausage in it!! Enormous thanks to Virgin Cargo , the Sydney Morning Herald and Channel 9 for working tirelessly over the last few days to make this happen tonight. Our tiny puppy is home at last and arrived to great attention with no less than 4 media crew there and cheers from her now FIVE foster caters on Whatsapp even though it was 4am in the USA! Everyone in this house will sleep extremely well tonight. Thanks for following her journey to date. Island adventures await. #goodgirlpip #homeatlast #adventuredog #family #wedidit #virginaustralia #virgincargo #smh #dachshund #celebritydachshund #homesweethome #pipishere #noplansjustoptions

A post shared by No Plans Just Options (@noplans.justoptions) on Aug 11, 2020 at 6:29am PDT

“We could not have got our puppy here without many, many people’s help and everyone did it because they loved dogs and wanted to help us get our smallest crew member home to her family,” she told reporters.