EUGENE, Ore. - Hattie Yeager says it's like something out of an Animal Planet TV show. Her dog Misty is safe at home, 18 months after the cattle dog ran away.

"It's just amazing, you can't even describe it," said the Eugene woman. "It's just like thinking your old friend is gone for the rest of your life and you get her back. It's like having a second chance."

Misty, nicknamed Mimi, was by Yeager's side for 13 years. Yeager bought her while living on Fort Gordon, an Army base in Augusta, Ga. Since she couldn't keep her in the barracks, Yeager boarded the dog at a friend's house - often staying overnight to spend time with her puppy.

Yeager navigated life with Misty by her side, moving from Georgia to Washington to Oregon, getting married and giving birth to two children.

But it was nothing compared to the journey her cattle dog would take over the past two years. 

In January 2008, the Yeager family moved into a house in west Eugene. Yeager, pregnant with her third child at the time, thought the backyard was secure.

Then 13-year-old Misty found a way out, as dogs are apt to do - escaping from the backyard.  Yeager and her children were heartbroken.

"In my heart, we always kept looking," she said. 

Two months later, Yeager got a glimmer of hope. She thought she spotted Misty in a news story about Lane County Animal Services. By the time her husband got to the shelter, the dog was no longer there.

Shelter manager Tom Howard said that, without a case number, there was no way to know if Misty was at the shelter. But for Yaeger, it was the first sign that her beloved dog was still alive.

Unbeknowst to the Yeagers, Misty was found wandering along Highway 34 near Corvallis that April. The Heartland Humane Society contacted the Philomath-based Pet Adoption Network to find a home for the dog.

By this time, Misty had gone blind due to progressive retinal atrophy, a genetic disease found in cattle dogs.

Because of that disability, "we figured we would probably have her forever," said Linda Watkins, a Pet Adoption Network volunteer.  "A dog like that we'll keep in foster [care] until the end comes." 

Watkins found a foster home for Misty in Klamath Falls, where she lived until this fall.

That's when Yeager learned about the Web site petfinder.com, which posts pictures of animals up for adoption. 

"The minute we clicked on, she was the first one on there," said Yeager. "Both my oldest son and I were like, 'That's Misty!'"

The dog in the photo, called Iris, had more gray fur, but Yeager was 98 percent sure the dog was hers. She exchanged e-mails with Watkins before driving to Klamath Falls to see the dog. It was then she was fully convinced.

"Instantly when I saw her, I was like, 'That's Mimi,'" said Yeager. "Everything was Misty. When you scratch her back she'll back into you."

For Watkins at the Pet Adoption Network, "that's a first for me," she said. "I've been doing rescue for about 10 years now, and I've placed a lot of dogs. You hear stories like this every once in awhile but you never expect this to happen."

The Pet Adoption Network is a rescue organization that takes great care to place dogs in suitable homes. So before Yeager could adopt Misty, she filled out a three-page application. A PAN volunteer also visited her home.

The Yeagers passed with flying colors and brought Misty home in early-November.

"I don't know how long we'll have her," Yeager said. "But I told my husband the first night that if I have her for a day, that would be enough, 'cause we really missed her."