CHULA VISTA, Calif. (KGTV) -- After a deadly accident on East H Street, one man worried that he'd never see his chocolate lab, "Gunner" again.
Chula Vista Police say the 7-year-old dog was tossed from the back of a pickup truck after it was hit by a Mini Cooper running a red light.
The passenger of the Mini Cooper died and Gunner ran away from the crash scene.
Babs Fry volunteers all over the county to find lost dogs using a social media network.
"We go out and do this because there aren't the resources through the government to do it," she said. "There's a group of us. We all communicate."
The group uses professional techniques to track and capture the dogs.
"Try to think like a dog and get some general sense about where he would most probably be hunkered down," she said.
After the crash, signs for Gunner started popping up all over the intersection.They were still there on Monday when 10News covered the story.
"It's about getting the word out so that we can get a good assessment of where the dog is," Fry said.
The sign worked, and someone who saw Gunner in a church parking lot responded.
Fry told the owner to go to that parking lot - thinking the dog would return. Sure enough - Gunner ran to his owner, more than 24 hours after he was lost.
It's a reward for Babs Fry - who says she's only paying it forward.
"To be frank," she said. "Somebody once did it for me."
