=auto” width=”640″ height=”395″ frameborder=”0″ webkitallowfullscreen=”” mozallowfullscreen=”” allowfullscreen=””]

We’ve said it before, but we will say it again: get your pets microchipped.

Because of this little invention, Jasper is back in his family’s arms after eight years away from the loving bunch. The Hendry family of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, received the shocking bit of good news that their old, lost dog was alive and well from the Houston SPCA, reports KHOU.

“After checking the pound and checking the neighborhood we just gave up hope and we just thought he was dead honestly,” Tiffany Hendry said of the long search for the dog, who went missing after escaping from the family’s yard so long ago.

The family was surprised at first to hear that Jasper somehow managed to make his way to the Texas city, but later learned the dog was likely picked up shortly after he went missing by someone in nearby West Monroe, Louisiana, who later moved to Houston with Jasper and then had to surrender the animal to the Houston SPCA.

The shelter was able to connect the new arrival to the Hendrys, because the family made sure to get Jasper microchipped. It was an important decision for the Hendrys, who previously had a pet dog without a microchip that was stolen and never returned. 

“Chip your animals,” Matthew Hendry told KNOE. “You just never know. Hopefully, it’ll give some people a glimmer of hope. Maybe they’ll see one of their lost animals again.”

Jasper, who is same dog aside from a little extra weight, happily reunited with his first owners on Friday, after friends of the Hendrys visiting Houston offered to drive the dog home. The family says the dog still remembers them after all these years.

“It’s like these moments where he looked at me dead in the eye almost if like to say, I know you. He was just looking into my heart saying, ‘I know who you are, I never forgot you,’ ” Tiffany said.

To learn more about microchips and how you can get one of these low-cost lifesavers for your pet, visit the American Veterinary Medical Association’s website.