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ABC (2)
Joy Behar's beloved Shih Tzu Bernie is safe and sound, after going missing over the Fourth of July holiday during a neighborhood fireworks show.
On Tuesday, The View host, 80, recalled the stressful dog rescue mission that luckily ended with a laugh after the animal took a "dump in her house."
"It's even hard for me to talk about it," Behar shared on the long-running talk show, explaining that her husband Steve Janowitz opened the door at their Long Island, New York home, "it was pitch black, and the next thing we knew, Bernie was gone."
The pair "searched the house, we went downstairs, we went outside, we took a flashlight, we were running around the streets."
Behar's daughter then called the local police, who helped in the full-fledged rescue mission along with the family and numerous neighbors.
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Lou Rocco/ABC via Getty Images
"My heart was in my mouth," said Behar. "I mean, to lose a dog like that, he's small, he could've got hit by a car. It was pitch black."
At one point, the TV veteran got in her car and started driving around with her high beams on, when someone yelled out, "'What are you doing moron?'" she recalled of the stressful experience.
Her husband went to check in on the status of the search at the police station and lo and behold, there was Bernie, nestled in the police chief's arms. "I mean, it was like, I thought I would never see that dog again. You have a fantasy, what's going to happen to him? Is someone going to steal the dog?" she said.
Behar took the time to remind viewers how frazzled animals can get by the sound of fireworks. "They freak out," she said, noting, "He never did anything like that."
Once the family settled back in with their beloved pet, Behar jokingly revealed that Bernie "took a dump in the house the next day."
Behar first introduced Bernie on The View back in 2017, sharing that she named him after Bernie Sanders.
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"He can't be alone, it's like having a dependant husband," she joked of the then-puppy at three months old. "Like you leave the room, he starts crying, what am I going to do?"
"He needs me," she said with a sweet laugh.