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Pomeranian 'Chi-Chi' - for real, this time - reunites with owner

Months after the dog was stolen in a burglary, nursing student Nia Kora has the 4-year-old pup back - and it's the right one.

Nia Kora hugs her dog Chispa a.k.a. ChiChi, Saturday Oct. 11, 2014, outside the SPCA in Philadelphia, as Henry Collins, left, talks with television reporters, after investigators located the dog which was stolen from Kora during a burglary in July. Henry Collins, owner of Mecca Unisex Salon on North Broad Street contacted investigators after reading a story about Chispa in the Philadelphia Daily News when he realized the Pomeranian he purchased from a young man claiming to be a college student who couldn't keep the dog because he was leaving town was the missing pooch. (For the Daily News and Inquirer/ Joseph Kaczmarek)
Nia Kora hugs her dog Chispa a.k.a. ChiChi, Saturday Oct. 11, 2014, outside the SPCA in Philadelphia, as Henry Collins, left, talks with television reporters, after investigators located the dog which was stolen from Kora during a burglary in July. Henry Collins, owner of Mecca Unisex Salon on North Broad Street contacted investigators after reading a story about Chispa in the Philadelphia Daily News when he realized the Pomeranian he purchased from a young man claiming to be a college student who couldn't keep the dog because he was leaving town was the missing pooch. (For the Daily News and Inquirer/ Joseph Kaczmarek)Read moreJoseph Kaczmarek
    by BY MORGAN ZALOT, Daily News Staff Writer <a href="mailto:zalotm@phillynews.com">zalotm@phillynews.com</a>, 215-854-5928
    Published 

EVEN THOUGH two months and a heartbreaking reunion with the wrong dog had passed since Nia Kora's beloved Pomeranian, Chi-Chi, was stolen during a burglary at her Francisville apartment, the Penn State nursing student held out hope that she'd see her dog again.

Over the weekend, Kora's wish came true when a salon owner who had unknowingly bought Chi-Chi - whom he knew as Candy - days after the July 30 burglary spotted a Daily News story last week about Kora accidentally being reunited with the wrong dog.

"Something inside me felt like, 'Hold up, a dog was stolen in the summer, and it wasn't too far from my barbershop, at the same time I got my dog, the same kind of dog, the dog wasn't answering to her name,' " Henry Collins, who owns Mecca Unisex Salon in Progress Plaza on Broad Street, said yesterday. "Those were all different clues when I was reading the Daily News article."

So Collins on Friday reached out to Kora. His suspicions were confirmed after an iPhone FaceTime session in which Kora spoke to Chi-Chi.

"When she heard my voice on the FaceTime, [Collins] said she hadn't been the same since," said Kora, 23. "People were doubting [that I'd get my dog back]. What I learned the most is the majority is gonna be against you, but that doesn't necessarily make [what they say] true."

On Saturday, Kora met Collins at his salon and reunited with 4-year-old Chi-Chi, whom she'd had since the dog was a puppy. Coincidentally, the pair then realized they had met before, a few weeks ago, when Kora's sister's car was towed from Progress Plaza's parking lot. The salon owner helped Kora prove she was at the salon when the car was towed so they could retrieve it.

"Isn't that funny? How ironic, and how really special life is," Kora said. "He was so helpful that day."

Kora thought her two-month quest to retrieve Chi-Chi was over last week when she was mistakenly given the wrong dog after the adoptive family of another dog that looks like hers came forward. A detective helped Kora on Saturday have Chi-Chi's microchip checked to confirm the dog's identity.

As for the lowlife who stole Chi-Chi, Kora said she has faith that the police, who worked hard to get her beloved dog back, will track the burglar down soon, too.

Kora said she was relieved to see that Chi-Chi had been kept healthy and in a good home while she was missing.

Collins said he bought the dog for $550 in August from a man who said he was a college student and could no longer keep the dog. Collins' 3-year-old son, Henry Jr., fell in love with the pup, but he knew he had to do the right thing.

And although he's out the cash he spent on the dog, Collins said, he's not interested in the $500 reward Kora had offered for the pup's safe return.

"I don't want it from her, because I feel terrible that somebody's gotta pay to get their own dog back," he said. "You should get your dog back for free."