On Sunday, a South Bay family was reunited with their lost dog Koko after nearly two and a half years. The French bulldog is one of two dogs that went missing after a gardener left a backyard gate open at the Pichardo’s family San Jose home in 2023. The other dog was Gizmo. “Time just kept going on and we kept checking, going to local shelters, we activated them as missing with their microchips,” said Melissa Pichardo, Koko’s owner. In fact, during their search, the family says they were targeted by scammers. “They asked us to give them $500 and they said ‘send it through Apple Pay, send it right now or else we are sending your dogs to Nevada’,” Pichardo said. A year went by, then two, and there was still no sign of the beloved Frenchie’s. “We were heartbroken. My daughter especially. She is about to be 7 years old and they were like her best friends at the time,” Pichardo said. “I really did miss her,” said Eva Pichardo, also Koko’s owner. Then this week, a phone call changed everything. Zoe Maxine of San Francisco reached and told the family she thought she had Koko. The 23-year-old says she bought the dog off Craigslist for $500 and picked her up in San Jose. Maxine said the dog who she named “Mochi” even helped boost her online following as a DJ. But she said after more than a year, she became suspicious when she could no longer reach the couple who sold her the dog. That’s when she says she started scouring the internet and found Koko’s photo and contacted the family. “She sent the pictures of Koko, and we just bawled our eyes out. We said ‘That’s her that’s her’,” Melissa Pichardo said. “I didn’t feel right keeping her when her owner was searching for her. I’m happy her owner gets to know she’s alive and well and is reunited with her,” Maxine said. That emotional reunion was Sunday. Now, Koko is back to chasing sticks, getting belly rubs and getting to know her two new family members: Mia and Abraham, born while she was missing. The search for Gizmo continues but the Pichardos are hoping someone will return him too so their family can once again feel complete. ...read more read less