ROYAL PALM BEACH, Fla. — It's a hopeful start to the new year for Brian and Lisa Jacobsen, who are thrilled to be back with their 9-month-old service dog, Bodhi, after nearly five days of being missing.
WPTV first told you about Bodhi who vanished the night of New Year’s Eve. Brian said he depends on Bodhi, who knows when he's feeling anxious and detects his blood sugar levels.
“I went two and half days without even sleeping," Brian said. "I just felt that I had one job and that was to protect him so my job was to find him and bring him home no matter how long it took."
Four nights later, the Doberman was found in the neighbor Wesley Palmer's backyard, who recognized him from a social media post.
“The moment we saw that dog they all said 'That’s Bodhi! That's the dog that’s missing!' They automatically knew, which was kind of neat," stated Wesley Palmer.
The Palmers live about a mile away and heard their dog barking Sunday morning. When they spotted Bodhi outside, Wesley and his wife, Dvorah, searched for the Jacobsens' flyer and called them.
Brian arrived at the Palmer’s home with his other dog.
"Once he saw Brian and the other dog, he just came out and he was so excited, he was jumping around, it was a pretty cool reunion seeing Bodhi get back together with his family," Wesley said.
The Jacobsens' loved ones, neighbors and even strangers joined in on the search for their beloved dog along with drones and hound dogs.
"People that used their own time, their own resources to find him, people that were out at midnight looking for him," shared Lisa. "It's very humbling to know that there’s a whole community out there.”
Although Bodhi has a cast on for the next four weeks, he’s expected to recover quickly.
“The main thing is, is that he’s safe and he’s got a few bumps and bruises, but it's that’s the worst thing that we gotta deal with. I’m just overjoyed to have him home,” shared Brian.
Along with the cast, Bodhi will be getting a new look after the scare.
"We got a GPS tracking collar from Amazon delivered today," shared Brian. "So, the next time you see Bodhi, he will have a GPS tracker on and he will not leave home without it.”
The Jacobsens said since the Palmers would not accept a reward, a donation has been made in their name for Paws 4 Liberty, an organization that provides service dogs to veterans at no cost.
