After 43 Days Lost in the Rocky Mountains, a Dog Was Finally Reunited With His Owner

It was supposed to be a brief stop. Steven Maa was driving cross-country from New Jersey to California in December 2025 and had paused in Colorado for some skiing, leaving his dog Rocky with a pet sitter. On December 28, the mottled brown-and-black dog bolted, vanishing into the rugged terrain near Montezuma, high in the Rocky Mountains. Then a blizzard moved in, with temperatures dropping below zero.

For most lost dogs in those conditions, the story would end there. But Maa refused to give up, and he found allies in Summit Lost Pet Rescue, a nonprofit run by Brandon Ciullo and Melissa Davis. Day after day, through deep snow and brutal cold, the team searched the mountains for any sign of Rocky—an effort that stretched on far longer than anyone could have expected, with the dog surviving alone in the wilderness.

“Steven Maa was driving cross-country from New Jersey to California in December 2025 and had paused in Colorado for some skiing, leaving his dog Rocky with a pet sitter.”

The break came 43 days later. On February 9, a local resident spotted Rocky on a backyard Ring camera, giving the searchers their first solid location in weeks. The rescue team moved in with a careful plan: they baited a trap using Steven’s scent, betting that the bond between dog and owner would draw Rocky in even after so long apart. Within three hours, the dog walked into the trap. By then, Rocky had wasted from 50 pounds down to just 26.

The reunion left even seasoned rescuers in tears. "He’s the only dog I’ve ever cried over," said Ciullo. "It was amazing." For Maa, the relief was overwhelming—and laced with pride at what his dog had endured. "We were just so overjoyed," he said, "extremely proud of him." Forty-three days alone in a frozen wilderness, and a dog came home—because a stranger glanced at a camera, and a team of people refused to stop looking.