When Ranger arrived at the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City, he was just another lost dog.

He had been brought in as a stray on August 28.

There was one major problem: Ranger didn’t have a microchip.

Without one, shelter workers had no easy way to identify his family.

So they posted his story online.

They had no idea what would happen next.

Within less than 24 hours, Ranger’s story had been viewed by more than 1 million people. More than 15,000 people across the country shared the post, hoping that somebody, somewhere, would recognize the dog and know where he belonged.

Suddenly, a local shelter case had become a nationwide search.

People who had never met Ranger began looking through the photographs, sharing the post and asking whether someone knew his family.

The attention also highlighted a much larger problem facing shelters across the country: pets can become extremely difficult to reunite with their owners when they aren’t microchipped or when their registration information is outdated.

The Humane Society of Greater Kansas City is using Ranger’s story to encourage pet owners to make sure their animals can be identified if they ever get lost.

For now, Ranger’s face continues to travel across social media.

And somewhere out there, the shelter hopes, his family may finally see the post.

One dog. One missing family. More than a million people watching. 🐾