A dog named Leo and his family just wrapped up a 10-hour drive around 7 pm that night and decided to check-in at the Quality Inn off College Drive in Dalton, Georgia for an overnight stay. Afterward, they went to get a bite at Chili’s which was just across the parking lot while Leo relaxed in the room. But little did the family know that Leo had other plans in mind.
Before his family even knew about it, Leo was already at Walnut Ave at the Bojangles. As it turned out, he was able to open the lever of their hotel room and wasted no time to escape. Then, he was nowhere to be found.
Leo’s mom, Danielle, and his grandmother stayed behind at Dalton to look for him. They also had another family member drive to Dalton with Leo’s best buddy dog in hopes of luring him out. Unfortunately, after a couple of weeks, none of their search efforts proved fruitful and they made the painful decision to leave Dalton without Leo.
But thankfully, there were locals like Karen Rogers and Mary Dennard who still continued looking for Leo to help the family. The two women spent the next months putting out signs, giving out flyers, canvassing, following sightings, and preparing trail cameras as well as feeding stations for Leo. On the other hand, Danielle tried to raise awareness about their missing dog by putting Leo’s story up on the news.
And then a few more weeks later, Leo was sighted in the home security cameras of a resident in the Mill Creek area. It was the perfect timing as Danielle was also in town that week and everyone were hoping that they would be reunited. Unfortunately, Leo disappeared again so Danielle had to go home again without him.
The whole rollercoaster of searching finally ended after Leo was successfully trapped after multiple, frequent close sightings of him in the area. He immediately got checked by the local vet as he had been in the wilderness for 135 days. A few hours after, he rejoicingly reunited with his mom Danielle and everyone was just so happy for them.
Source: Facebook via Lost Pet Recovery Team