New Jersey Couple Tracks Lost Dog from Steamboat to Toponas

Steamboat Springs —What happens to a dog when she leaves the only home she’s ever known, and how does a couple from New Jersey keep her from vanishing into the high country? That’s the question haunting Carly Fairweather and Sean Lenahan as they recount the last month of their lives. It wasn’t just about finding a pet. It was about surviving the shock of a three-week disappearance that stretched from Steamboat Springs all the way to Toponas.

The couple arrived in Steamboat on July 9. They spent the next day walking downtown, soaking in the mountain air, before heading to the rodeo. That evening, they left their dog, Little Bit, at their hotel off Pine Grove Road. When they returned, the door was open. Little Bit was gone.

Fairweather and Lenahan work at St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center in New Jersey. They aren’t amateurs. They know dogs. But even professionals in the animal world were caught off guard by the sheer complexity of the search. They called family, joined online neighborhood groups, contacted law enforcement and animal control, and waited at the hotel, hoping the pup would return on her own. She didn’t.

Little Bit, or “Bitty” as they called her, had a complicated history. The couple first met her in 2021 when she entered their shelter as evidence in a neglect case. State law required animals to remain unavailable for adoption until cases resolved. Little Bit’s owner refused to sign her over, keeping the dog in limbo for nearly two years. They finally adopted her in February 2023, once the case closed.

“We knew we could have lost her back when her case was going on, and we knew we could never lose her again,” Fairweather said.

The hotel guests told them Little Bit had been sniffing around outside their room when she likely got spooked and ran. The couple launched a “family army” to search. They were referred to Babs Fry, a San Diego-based expert and founder of the nonprofit A Way Home for Dogs. Fry became a critical resource, guiding the couple through a process they didn’t know existed.

“Even as professionals in the dog world, we had no idea there was an entire group of people specializing in tracking and reuniting families with their lost pets,” Fairweather said. “Babs (Fry) helped us realize that we weren’t necessarily looking for our Little Bit — we were looking for a dog who was lost.”

The search yielded 35 confirmed sightings. Little Bit traveled far and wide across Routt County. She entered what Fry calls “survival mode,” a trauma response that changes a dog’s behavior completely. The pup stopped seeing the world the way she did before. She focused on food, water, and shelter. Humans became threats, not helpers.

The couple tracked her movements, piecing together clues from locals who spotted her. They didn’t just drive around looking for a brown dog. They looked for a scared animal hiding in plain sight. The search lasted 21 days.

It ended in Toponas.

The road trip that was supposed to be a celebration of marriage and mountain memories became a story of persistence. Little Bit was found. The couple brought her home. They learned that losing a dog isn’t just about opening a door and finding an empty room. It’s about navigating a new world where your best friend is somewhere out there, surviving on instinct, waiting for you to figure out how to bring her back.