Golden retriever missing since Superstorm Sandy reunites with family 17 months later

Last week, a woman walking her dog in New Jersey spotted a wandering yellow Labrador retriever and alerted the West Windsor Police Department.

According to WTXF, when an officer approached the pup, the dog jumped into the back of the patrol car without hesitation.

At the nearby Weber's Boarding Facility, officials scanned the dog's microchip and identified his owners: Miguel and Myra Cruz had reported him missing in November 2012.

The dog, named Wesley, disappeared from his owners' yard just days before Superstorm Sandy hit.

When the dog didn't return, the Cruz family feared the worst.

"We were thinking that he passed, he may have been struck and, you know, we hoped that if he is alive that someone is taking care of him," Miguel Cruz told CBS Philadelphia.

On Tuesday night, the police called the Cruz family with the news that their dog had been found.

"We were all jumping up and down like we won the Super Bowl," Cruz told NJ.com. "We've had him for four years, he's back in the family and we're all pysched."

Last Tuesday, the Cruz family was reunited with their long-lost pup, now 25 pounds heavier. You can watch the adorable family reunion here.

No one knows where Wesley spent his 17 months away, but his fuller physique indicates he was well fed.

His owners are just happy to have him home again — especially 12-year-old Sebastian Cruz, who received Wesley as a gift on his eigth birthday.

"We're happy, my son is so very happy," Cruz told NJ.com. "If it weren't for that microchip, he wouldn't be lying next to me now snoring."

"When you're a dog person, the dog is part of the family. It's a family member that's gone. So, you never give up hope," he told CBS Philadelphia.

A Facebook group titled "Hurricane Sandy Lost and Found Pets" is helping find homes for animals found in areas affected by Sandy — and reunite pets with their owners — by "posting photos of lost or found pets in the areas affected by Sandy, as well as posting animal shelters in need and temporary shelters that allow animals."