Stolen Porters Lake, N.S. dog, Izzy, found in Summerside, P.E.I.

A Porters Lake, N.S. family has been reunited with its dog almost three weeks after it was stolen and somehow ended up in Summerside, P.E.I.

On Thursday, July 23, Isabelle (Izzy) was last seen in her outdoor kennel. When the family returned home that day, Izzy's kennel was open and it didn't appear that she had clawed her way out.

That led the family to believe that somebody took the two-year-old Amstaff pitbull, owner Heidi Woods said in a Facebook post.

Cpl. Ron MacLean with Summerside Police Services says on Sunday, police received a tip about a stolen dog from B.C. that was at a residence in Summerside. Police investigated the tip, but concluded that the dog was not the same one that had disappeared from B.C.

After that investigators searched online and came across social media postings that Woods had made about Izzy's disappearance. Throughout the ordeal, Woods made frequent postings to sites such as Kijiji and Facebook to get the word out.

After seeing the posts, Summerside Police concluded the dog was Izzy.

On Monday, police phoned Woods to notify her they had her dog. Four hours later, Woods was on the Island to pick up Izzy.

"You know what, I couldn't even describe how happy they were. The tears of joy, I guess, were flowing pretty good, crying and hugging everybody, and [it was] definitely a very happy moment for them," said MacLean.

It isn't clear at this point how Izzy made it to P.E.I., but police say the people who had her were taking care of her for somebody else and are not guilty of wrongdoing.

CBC has reached out to Woods to learn more about the case.