by ABC-7 Reporter Darren Hunt

EL PASO, Texas -- How important is it to microchip your dog? First of all it's the law, and it could come in handy when your pets get lost, no matter how far they get.

A boxer named Flower disappeared from Northeast El Pasoan Christina Mata's backyard last January. Mata thought all was lost until she received a very long-distance phone call.

"It's funny, but sometimes I would dream about her that she came back home ... But it never happened ... I was kind of giving up," she said.

Then Mata heard her phone ring. It was a call from Brunswick, Ohio's animal warden, about 1,800 miles away.

"He said, 'I have your dog ...Do you know how she ended up in Ohio?' I said, 'I don't know'," Mata said.

If dogs could talk, Mata says Flower would have quite a story to tell. But since she can't, the microchip Mata put in her dog a few years ago spoke for her.

"It's good for them to know your dog's information so they can get ahold of you so you can get them back," Mata said.

The problem is, according to El Paso Animal Control, despite the fact it's the law, less than 25 percent of the pets in El Paso are microchipped.

Alvaro Medina is a veterinarian for the city health department, and he called Flower's journey a microchipping success story.

"That's a great story ... it happens once in a while and that shows the importance of microchipping," Medina said.

He said more than a hundred people a day come looking for their lost pets at El Paso Animal Control.

"Unfortunately, a lot of dogs don't get reunited with the owners, especially if they're not microchipped," Medina said.

West El Pasoan Tara Corkran said her lost pit bull Doobie is microchipped, and because of that she is holding out hope for his return.

"Hopefully somebody will turn him in and find him with the chip," Corkran said.

Just like Flower. "She's like part of the family," Medina said.

Continental Airlines has agreed to fly Flower to Albuquerque Thursday night where Mata plans to pick her up.

Microchipping your pet can cost anywhere from $20-35. The key, especially when you live in a border state, is to make sure you also register the dog on a national microchippping database.

national pet databases