MUSSEY TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) — It was Thanksgiving Day 2023 when Jackie Novak says she received an email from the DNA testing company, Embark, that she bought a test from to learn more about the lineage of her dog.
The email was to inform her that her dog has a sibling.
"Knowing she came from so far away, we kind of wanted to better understand her past because we only knew so much about it when we got her. We didn't quite know we would get anything, but at least we knew there was a chance," Novak said.
Winnie, Novak's dog, was picked up by a shelter in South Texas with two of her littermates. But because of severe overcrowding, she and one of her sisters were transported up to Michigan, however, to two separate shelters.
Andrea Groom and her husband adopted Winnie's sister Joplin and also performed the same DNA test on their pup, and they ended up with the match.
When the two women got in contact, they decided they wanted to find out whether the girls had any more siblings.
Groom took to Facebook for some internet sleuthing and found a long-lost littermate that was still in the same shelter where the girls originated.
"The girls were all on the list to be euthanized and she was the last one down there, so we knew we only had a short window to get her up here and save her," Novak said.
Groom, already connected with a shelter in Michigan, was able to get the final littermate transferred to the state and as soon as she arrived, Groom knew she couldn't let Harlow go.
"They realized they were with their sibling, like running around the yard," Groom said.
Noak said reuniting the three sisters was a moment she'll never forget.
"We never thought we would get to see one of her siblings, let alone meet two of them, so it like wouldn't quite process in my brain," Novak said.
The women now plan to set up puppy playdates for the three sisters to make sure they get to see each other as they grow up.
