Earlier this month, volunteers at this animal shelter in Ukraine took in a large, blue-eyed stray dog for whom life on the streets had clearly not been kind. His emaciated body and mangy coat hinted at the many hardships he’d faced.

Rescuers were determined to find the dog a happy new home — not realizing, of course, he already had one. And that someone was missing him dearly.

The day the dog was brought in, his photo was taken and posted online to seek out potential adopters.

Given his condition, and the time that would be required to return him to health, it might have seemed unlikely for the poor pup to garner much interest — but the sadness in his eyes struck a chord.

Within hours, the post was shared hundreds of times by people around the world.

Those shares on social media made all the difference.

Just two days later, the shelter was contacted by a woman whose dog had been stolen from her yard back in 2017. She’d been sent the shelter’s post and was struck by how similar that dog appeared to her missing pup.

“She’d been looking for her dog for two years,” Galina Lekunova, who works at the shelter, told The Dodo. But could this be him?

The next day, a meeting was arranged to confirm the suspicion — and it soon became obvious that it was in fact a reunion. And a heartfelt one at that:

“Tears of joy in the morning!” the shelter wrote of that moment, calling the reunion a “miracle.”

The dog, whose name is Lord, had waited so long for that day to come. He was finally back where he belongs — with help of strangers who insisted on spreading the word about him online.

“We thank everyone who shared our post,” the shelter wrote. “Thanks to you that the dog’s life was saved, and peace returned to his owner’s soul!”