Palisadian Dog Goes Missing, Found in Sacramento After Two Months

By LILY TINOCO | Reporter

Two months after her Bichon Frise disappeared, Palisadian Jennifer Chen shared that she is elated to have her pet back.

Chen told the Palisadian-Post that her dog, Julio Amore, went missing on January 2 after sneaking out the side door of her Palisades Highlands home. She said she quickly noticed his absence when he wasn’t alongside her or her poodle Julietta, because the two are always together, “like one item,” she said.

Chen suspected that Julio Amore was dognapped after seeing him follow two unfamiliar dogs on her neighbor’s watch camera then disappearing. She said she believes somebody used the dogs to lure Julio Amore.

Chen explained that she went door to door to ask neighbors if they recognized the dogs with no luck.

“We do so many routines every day, he follows me everywhere, he is like my shadow,” Chen said. “And then you tell me he is not here anymore … I spent two months searching through all kinds of possibilities and still had no answers. I was so heartbroken because he’s so important to me.

“I still can’t get over what happened these last two months when he was missing, I was so devastated. The pain is unimaginable.”

On Tuesday, March 2—two months after he went missing—Chen received an unexpected call that Julio Amore’s microchip was screened, he was found and taken to an animal shelter in downtown Sacramento.

“I said, ‘What? No way he’s in Sacramento, he went missing in front of my house in Los Angeles, how could he end up in Sacramento?’” Chen recalled.

Chen said the shelter reported that Julio Amore was wandering the streets for a few days.

“He was mistreated … he looked so dirty, I could not recognize him,” she said.

She luckily had a friend in the Sacramento area who was able to pick up Julio Amore that day, and her husband went early the next morning to bring him home. She said when her husband turned into Palisades Drive, Julio Amore noticed he was back home.

“Julio Amore was finally back to me on March 3 in the afternoon,” Chen said. “And poor thing, for the last 60 days, we just don’t know what happened to him. I wish he could talk to me so he could tell me.

“I just have to be very patient with him, give him lots of love. I’m really, really grateful. It’s a true miracle.”