UPDATE: Harley's Family 'Ecstatic'

Updated 2:10 p.m. The Riverside County Department of Animal Services chief veterinarian, Allan Drusys, and Animal Services spokesman John Welsh came to the Valdivias' home Wednesday afternoon to examine paperwork and photos provided by Jeana Valdivia.

Drusys and Welsh said based on the records and photos they were confident the recovered pug is the Valdivias' Harley, and said they plan to return with Harley later this afternoon.

"We can't wait!" Jeana said. "Everyone keeps calling and asking if the dog's home yet."

Posted 12:48 p.m. A pug named Harley was the runt of the litter, but Jeana Valdivia of Beaumont, her husband Sal, and their four young children loved him even more for it when they brought him home in 2007.

"He was only three months when we got him, so small, " Jeana said Wednesday morning, cupping her hands together. "He weighed only a couple pounds at most."

The Valdivias had Harley's sister before, but she died of pug encephalitis, Jeana said.

Harley grew up healthy though, and by July 2010 he was three years old and weighed a "chunky" 15 to 20 pounds, Jeana said. But the Valdivias went to a family reunion one day and when they got home Harley was gone.

Harley may have got out through a hole in the fence or someone took him, Jeana said.

"We cried," Jeana said, sitting in her living room Wednesday with her and Sal's children, Sally, 2, Diego, 7, Preston, 8, and Nolan, 11. "We all cried. Sally kept looking for him. She was only one year old then."

The family put up fliers and pictures in their neighborhood on Palm Avenue, at the local pet store, at the veterinarian's office, the Starbucks at Oak Valley Parkway and Beaumont Avenue, at the Noble Creek Dog Park, and Jose's Produce, Jeana said.

"We put them up all over, we went door to door," Jeana said.

But they never found Harley. Eventually Jeana lost hope and threw away the missing posters she made for the dog. But she kept all his important papers, and she kept some photos.

Fast-forward to Tuesday this week, when a childhood friend from Cherry Valley, Kiley Meza, came to the Valdivias' new home around the corner, on Canyon Crest Road.

"She told me to look at a story on Banning-Beaumont Patch," Jeana said. "I looked at the photo and said, 'That's my dog!' "

The Riverside County Department of Animal Services had put out a bulletin last week, seeking public help locating the owners of a pug named Harley believed separated from his family for several months.

Somehow the pug ended up in a truck on May 9 that was involved in a traffic accident on Bellflower Avenue in Cherry Valley, according to Animal Services spokesman John Welsh.

A day later somebody called and said they'd found a stray pug. When an Animal Services officer collected the dog, evidence suggested the animal had bolted from the truck involved in the accident, according to Welsh.

The pug answered to the name Harley, Welsh said.

After Jeana saw the Patch story she emailed Welsh late Tuesday, and Welsh said he was gratified to hear from her.

"Hopefully this story has a happy ending," Welsh said in a phone interview Wednesday. "We just need to check out the paperwork and confirm they are the owners."

Welsh said he intended to visit with the Valdivias on Wednesday afternoon, and hopefully return Harley for a reunion with the family later in the day.

"We are excited, we can't wait," Jeana said, surrounded by her children. "It's definitely a miracle. Prayers answered, for sure."