He wanted his pup back as soon as possible.
John Aguilar isn’t in the habit of cruising the streets of San Antonio on a lawnmower — but one July day, that’s exactly what he found himself doing, with his dog at his side and a huge grin on his face.
The morning had started normally. Aguilar left the kitchen window cracked while making breakfast, not suspecting anything unusual. But by the afternoon, a shocking discovery awaited him and his family:
“The window was wide open, and Ghost was gone,” Aguilar told The Dodo. “He must have pulled himself onto the ledge and opened it. He’s a very smart dog.”
Ghost, a 4-year-old Labradoodle, had been adopted from a friend in Virginia who was deployed in the military. “Ever since I got him, he never leaves my side,” Aguilar said. “He means a lot to my family and me. I can’t sleep if he’s not in my room.”
A frantic search began. While Aguilar made calls and posted on social media, his wife and children combed the streets in the family car. But Ghost had wandered farther than they imagined — nearly a mile away, he arrived at a local auto repair shop.
“He literally walked straight up to me from the street and sat down,” said Johnny Chavez, one of the shop’s employees. “He let me grab him by the collar, and I thought, ‘I’m definitely not letting you go.’”
Chavez noticed a tag on Ghost’s collar from Virginia. The number had been disconnected, so he reached out to Jenn White, a well-known San Antonio animal rescuer with a reputation for tracing lost pets and helping them find homes. White immediately suspected the dog might have a microchip.
White instructed Chavez to take Ghost to a nearby vet for scanning. The microchip revealed the connection Aguilar and his family had been hoping for. Though White initially hesitated — “I was skeptical; so many microchips are dead ends,” she said — she called the registered number.
Within seconds, Aguilar answered. “He was so excited,” White recalled. “‘Oh my gosh, where are you?’ he said. We told him where to meet us, and he said, ‘I’ll be right there!’”
Moments later, Aguilar arrived — not on foot, but on a riding lawnmower, beaming with joy. “I thought, ‘Is this guy really coming down the street on a lawnmower?’ Yep, he sure is,” White said. “God love him.”
Aguilar didn’t want to wait — while his family searched elsewhere in town, he wanted Ghost back immediately. “It would have taken me 20 minutes to walk, and I just wanted him safe,” he said.
For White and Chavez, the reunion was a rare, heartwarming victory. “It’s so refreshing,” White said. “You get used to people not caring about animals. Then here’s someone who obviously loves his dog. This is why we keep going.”