Knightdale — It was a lonely separation, but Richard Edwards is just glad it’s over.

Edwards was reunited with his dog Shey-Ann, a 51-pound Siberian Husky Friday afternoon.

“My heart’s light,” said Edwards, a retired postal worker. “I know she’s alright now. ... I guess she just decided to take an adventure.”

Shey-Ann was gone for three days and in a lighter moment while she was missing, Edwards told his neighbor if she came home, he’d call her Lassie.

Edwards, who has macular degeneration and doesn’t work anymore, spends a lot of his time with the dog.

“She needs me and I need her,” Edwards said before his companion turned up.

Once he realized was missing, he talked to his new neighbors in Emerald Pointe, called animal control, the police department, town hall, his vet Raleigh Animal Hospital and the newspaper in his all out search for his dog.

But it was a surprise call from “a good Samaritan” said Edwards, Michelle Loley who lives off Old Knight Road, that brought Shey-Ann home.

Loley had a Siberian Husky herself, and could imagine Edward’s loss.

She took the dog in once she found it and started calling Veterinary clinics. Luckily, she connected with Raleigh Animal Hospital who knew of Edwards’ plight.

“I talked to Michelle a few minutes to let her know how much I appreciated her,” said Edwards. “Then Shey-Ann went to the back yard. I went out and gave her her favorite snack.”

Edwards moved last month to Knightdale with his wife Eileen. He had only installed his backyard fence three days before Shey-Ann got away.

She shot out of the gate when a worker entered fill a tank with propane gas, Edwards said.

“I immediately went out and looked for her,” he said. “There’s a lot of building going on and I asked the buys building houses. An electrician saw her, and a couple of kids saw her.

But after that, he lost her trail.

As a newcomer, Edwards said he didn’t know what to expect.

“I had no idea what I might be running into,” he said. “But everybody connected real well. The community should be proud.”

And Edwards said the dog has already made herself right at home.

“She’s lying out here on the patio. She just looks up at me and lays her head back down,” said Edwards. “I haven’t called her Lassie yet, though.”