A New Jersey man has been reunited with his beloved dog after a 43-day ordeal in the Colorado wilderness.
According to NJ.com, Steven Maa’s 10-year-old dog, Rocky, vanished on Dec. 28, 2025, during a stop in Montezuma, Colorado. Maa and Rocky were in the middle of a cross-country move from New Jersey to California when the dog disappeared. On Feb. 13, after weeks of searching through snowstorms and subzero temperatures, Rocky returned to his worried owner’s arms.
“Getting to see Rocky and seeing how happy he was to see me was definitely very emotional,” Maa told the outlet. “It was amazing.”
Maa had stopped in Colorado to go skiing and arranged for a pet sitter to watch Rocky while he was on the slopes. However, Rocky slipped out of his harness minutes after being set up with the sitter and ran into the rugged mountain terrain at roughly 10,000 feet above sea level.
Maa and his partner searched the wilderness until 3 a.m. in the middle of a snowstorm before contacting Summit Lost Pet Rescue. The Colorado nonprofit quickly organized search efforts using trail cameras, scent stations, and community alerts.
After three days, a resident’s front-door security camera confirmed that Rocky was still alive. However, the dog disappeared again and was not seen for another 40 days.Brandon Ciullo, founder of Summit Lost Pet Rescue, explained that vehicles, wildlife, and exposure are usually the biggest threats in cases like this.
As the weeks passed without sightings, the rescue team began preparing to scale back their efforts. Then, on Feb. 9, a resident’s Ring camera captured a small black dog matching Rocky’s description.Ciullo recalled rushing to the scene after seeing the footage.
“This dog has been missing for 43 days, and I’m sure it is extremely starving and very, very close to dying,” he said.Using clothing from Maa to create a scent trail, rescuers set a humane trap to catch Rocky. The dog initially entered the trap but did not trigger it. Ciullo reset the trap and added peanut butter as bait, determined not to leave the mountain until the dog was rescued.
Hours later, Rocky was safely captured.
Although he was severely underweight — dropping from about 50 pounds to just 26 pounds — Rocky still showed surprising energy.“We couldn’t believe that this dog, that hasn’t probably eaten in 43 days, had this much energy and this much life in him,” Ciullo said.
For Maa, the reunion felt almost unbelievable.“We were just so overjoyed… and in disbelief that he could survive for that long,” he said.
Now living in California, Rocky is settling into his new home and, according to Maa, is starting to act like his old self again.