Lost Dog Search Team

   Romeo’s story begins when he was around 10 months old living in a home of physical and verbal abuse by his young owner and children. One day Romeo’s owner kicked him and Romeo ran away into a near by wooded area. He stayed in that area for nearly 2 weeks before a neighbor got him to come out enough to catch him and bring him to her home. She fed him and cleaned him up. This woman is a friend of mine and on a visit to her house I met Romeo the day she found him. My friend begged me to take him, as she could not keep him. I told her that I couldn’t because I already had 4 dogs. But my heart melted away looking in his sad & frightened eyes. I could see he had lost his trust in humans and feared them. I knew being a Pit Bull, if he was brought to a shelter in his state he would surely be put down. When my friend told me Romeo’s owner had abused him and why he ran away, I was so angered by the injustice to this poor creature. Than when she said his owner had come by and told her he would come back in a week or two to get Romeo and give her $20 for feeding him I just could not let him go back to that life. She told Romeo's owner that Romeo had run away again and I took him home with me. It took me many months to rehabilitate Romeo. He was afraid of everything & everyone, but me. We had formed a bond of love and trust from the very start. I think he knew I rescued him. Over the month’s he became very attached to me and started to have separation anxiety whenever I would leave the house. He would chew any and everything, including himself. This is when I thought of bringing him a couple of days to a doggie daycare to play with other dogs and get use to being with out me, but seeing I always came back for him. Well….one day a worker at the day care left a door open and Romeo got out into the street. He was gone for 4 of the worst days of my life. My Husband and I along with 8 wonderful friends searched for Romeo sunrise to sunset. I felt so helpless and felt I had let Romeo down. You see I had promised Romeo he would NEVER be abused again, but now….what if some one else found him? What if they tried to fight him? What if he gets hit by a car? All these terrible things go through your head. All I know is that my heart was hurting and I wanted my Romeo home again. Finally after searching everywhere and putting 400 flyers out with a reward, we got a call. A young girl had found him in the basement of her apartments….but you know what really gave me goose bumps…..Romeo was less than a mile from home! He had crossed a 6 lane highway and through woods. That’s when I knew I had done the right thing the first day I took him home. The helplessness and heartache I felt for those 4 long days I will never forget, and that is why we started this lost dog search & rescue team, so we can reunite as many lost dogs with their owners as we can.