A family from southern Germany have been reunited with their dog seven years after the shiny, black Pekingese pup went missing in Vienna.

German family reunited with missing dog

A family from Nuremberg have been reunited with their dog seven years after it went missing. During a holiday to Vienna in April 2015, the family had tied up the dog, named Suzi, outside a shop. When they returned shortly after the fluffy Pekingese pooch was out of sight.

The German family first suspected that Suzi had been stolen and made appeals on social media, but after their attempts proved unsuccessful they returned to their home city in southern Germany.

Social media campaign reunited dog and family

Then, in November 2022 Viennese authorities found little Suzi and placed her in an animal shelter. Suzi’s chip was read and the local animal shelter sent out a call on social media, hoping to find a new human companion for the now-aged “Hundeoma Suzi” (Dog-granny Suzi).

But the family from Nuremberg were in luck, as a beady-eyed stranger connected the dots between their 2015 social media search party and the animal home’s 2022 appeal, sending the shelter a message to inform them.

Speaking to dpa, a member of Suzi’s Nuremberg family said she “never gave up hope of seeing Suzi again. It was indescribably beautiful to see her again after all these years and take her into my arms."