HONOLULU (KHON2) — Two working dogs trained to help in very different ways just experienced a heartwarming reunion four years in the making.
It turns out they are more than just furry professionals, they are family.
Mikey is all business on the job, serving as a facility dog at Queen’s Medical Center to provide comfort to patients and staff — but this visit was different.
It started with a scroll through Instagram, where Dr. Rick Bruno’s daughter saw a labrador retriever that looked a lot like Mikey.
“And then through a little sleuthing, my daughter figured out they had the same birthday and reached out to Matthew and Paul,” said Dr. Bruno, Queen’s Facility Dogs executive sponsor.
That other Labrador is Mr. Maple. He lives in Washington State where he serves as a guide dog for Paul, who is visually impaired.
It turned out that the two dogs share more than a similar look.
“And, my daughter figured out that the, initials most litters have the same first initial. And so Mikey and Maple were part of an ‘M’ litter,” Dr. Bruno said.
They got in touch with Matthew and Paul and decided to meet up in Hawaii.
Mr. Maple and his handlers made the trip to Honolulu and the reunion took place right at Mikey’s workplace. They hadn’t been together in four years.
“Both of them are very professional in their work. And so it was really fun to be able to take off both of their working jackets and just let them naturally reunite,” said Katie Julian, Assistance Dogs of Hawaii Oahu program manager.
Despite being trained professionals separated by an ocean and four years time, the brothers knew exactly who they were looking at.
“They’re trained actually to ignore distractions and ignore other dogs, but they just immediately, like, went towards each other and went in circles, waggy tails, it was great,” Julian said.
From across the Pacific, two dogs dedicated to serving humans found each other again.
“I am super inspired and would definitely love to get, you know, other litter mates together for sure,” said Julian.
Matthew and Paul are now on a mission to reunite Mr. Maple with every one of his seven litter mates. Mikey mainly serves in the oncology unit at Queen’s where he works 40 hour work weeks.
