Man uses social media neighborhood app to find lost dog

A service dog and his owner are happily reunited after the dog went missing for several days.

The man took to a cell phone app to help get his dog back.

It's not your average lost and found story.

"Oh awful, it's like losing your child, it's a horrible experience. One of my dogs is blind, so I was scared she would be hit by a car," said Jason Gervase.

Gervase accidentally left the gate open one morning, and all three of his dogs ran off. Two of them came back, but Emmy, his hearing dog did not.

"I was frantic, I started posting on social media to get help from the community, my friend Melissa suggested that I downloaded the Next Door app," said Gervase.

He made hundreds of fliers and alerted neighbors on an app called next door. It's a private social network for your neighborhood.

"I got a lot of responses from people in my neighborhood who wanted to help out by posting fliers, and just keeping an eye out for my dog," he said.

Emmy, Jason's hearing dog, is trained to make physical contact with him when different noises occur, like when the alarm clock or smoke detector goes off.

Four long days had gone by before he got news. "I got a text from a neighbor who lives right over there, saying he had found her. Apparently she came home, she still knew where she lived after four days," said Gervase.

Jason says he is thankful for his helpful neighbors and the app, which also acts as more than a lost and found tool.

"It's cool because it keeps people informed about suspicious activities or crimes that happen in the neighborhood, it is a really neat app," said Gervase.

Jason says his neighbors even offered to help him take down his remaining "Lost Dog" posters.