David Hunter must have a guardian angel watching over him, because his beloved dog Rusty is back at his home in Claremont.

Mr. Hunter had been on a pilgrimage to find the dog since she disappeared last month, sitting for hours in his Jeep parked in front of Claremont’s Stater Bros. market.

Friday morning his vigilance paid off when he received a phone call from a woman in Ontario who said she though she might have Rusty. “She described [the dog] and I confirmed that it sounded like Rusty,” he said. “I asked if I could come over right away but she asked that we meet that afternoon so her daughter could say goodbye.”

Apparently, the anonymous Ontario woman had taken Rusty to a veterinarian for shots, however, the doctor cautioned her that the dog was most likely someone’s pet. She was then able to find the missing dog ad on Craigslist.

The woman arranged to meet Mr. Hunter at 3 o’clock on Friday afternoon at Towne Avenue and Foothill Boulevard in Pomona. As Mr. Hunter drove up, he saw the family and Rusty standing on the sidewalk in front of CVS. “She [Rusty] went completely nuts when she saw us and the girl was having a hard time holding her,” he said.

After witnessing the reunion the woman said, “Now I am quite sure this is your dog.” according to Mr. Hunter.

“I feel really badly that your daughter is going to miss this dog,” he told her, which the woman replied that they would use the reward money to adopt a dog from the Humane Society. 

Mr. Hunter said Rusty would get a GPS microchip and he would make sure that from now on she always wears a collar and license.