After nearly three weeks of searching, Angie and Jared Palfrey were finally reunited with their four-year-old labradoodle Mordy at Manning Park on Sunday night.

"It was overwhelming, it was very emotional," Angie said. "You know, we love him very much, and he's a part of our family."

Mordy had bolted during a stopover in the town of Princeton while the Palfreys' niece was driving him home to Abbotsford on Aug. 26. "I think we were pretty sure he would just come back to her and she would drive him home, and we would see them in a few hours," said Angie.

But that didn't happen. Over the next three weeks there were almost daily sightings of the pup in and around Princeton, but he's skittish around strangers and would run away when approached.

"There was a lot of highs and lows for sure," said Angie. "I was up there as often as I could be."

The couple also hired a company that looks for lost animals, to no avail.

The Palfreys weren't there on Sunday during the town's Terry Fox run, where there were several more sightings. But their in-laws were still in Princeton, and they spotted Mordy in the woods. The dog wouldn't come to them, so they bought some cheeseburgers to entice him and sent their dog, Mordy's best friend Chili, into the woods.

Moments later the two dogs emerged together.

"Chili did come out and lure him in, and then the cheeseburgers got him into the truck," laughed Angie. "It was Chili that really rescued Mordy."

"I was crying, mom was crying, everyone was crying. It was beautiful," said her husband Jared. "Immediately Angie and I jumped in our car, and our rendezvous point was Manning Park." Their emotional reunion was captured on video.

Mordy has some skin abrasions, and he's very skinny, but he's otherwise OK. "We heard reports he was trying to eat ground squirrels and maybe some mice in fields," said Jared.

"He's normally a beautiful white fluffy labradoodle," said Angie. "Right now he looks pretty beat up." They're amazed Mordy survived on his own for nearly three weeks, and are relieved to have him home safe. "There's nothing better, it's an amazing, massive relief."