NJ woman reunites family with dog lost at Turnpike rest stop

A small dog that ran off from a New Jersey Turnpike service area is doing well on his ride home to Florida.

"He is doing so good. I don't know who's more excited me or him," Iwona Kowalczyk said on Thursday from a South Carolina rest area. Thanks to an observant Robbinsville woman, Iwona and her husband Jerry were reunited with Jake on Wednesday.

The Kowalczyks stopped at the Walt Whitman service area on Friday as they made their way from Bradenton, Florida, to Connecticut for their daughter's graduation from Fairfield University. After Iwona left their car, her husband opened his door and Jake shot out.

"He is more attached to me so I believe he ran off after me" as she headed off to the ladies room, she told New Jersey 101.5.

Taylor Snee, 19, told NJ Advance Media she noticed something dart out onto Merrick Road on Sunday morning and thought it was a rat. Merrick Road runs in back of the service area. Thanks to the label on Jake's collar, Snee was able to track down the Kowalczyks via email and they picked up Jake Wednesday on their return trip

They thanked Snee, who works at the Chesterfield Veterinary Clinic in Bordentown, with a $100 bill and a dozen red roses.

Jame came into the Kowalczyks' lives after they lost a16-year-old Lhasa Apso named Abby in December 2014. A friend at work told Iwona that she found another dog and offered to bring it in for her to meet.

"He's so cute and tiny," recalled Iwona, who said she first Jake and decided to keep him.