A Brooks area family will celebrate the return of one of their family members Thursday, November 9.

"Vader," a Rottweiler mix went missing back in September when owner Jim Third was at work.

Five weeks went by and Third had finally worked up the courage to tell his kids the likely fate of their pet.

"Hope had been draining and I was getting to the point I better practice my speech to the kids that their dog might be gone forever. I even got the story so specific, I was going to do it during supper preparation, cut onions, so if I started crying I could blame the onions."

"Vader" made the trip from Brooks to Steinbach

The dog had a heck of a trip though as "Vader" was found safe and sound 12-hundred kilometres away in tiny Steinbach, Manitoba.

It took to bit to track him back to Third, but thanks to a local trucking company he'll be re-united with his family.