Have you ever heard the saying, “Home is where your dog is”? For pet lovers, it rings true. Our dogs are our family. So when they disappear, home just isn’t the same.
That’s what happened on Christmas Day when Penny—the friendly, fluffy mini Aussiedoodle belonging to Paul and Patty Martino—slipped out of the home she was visiting and vanished.
For the next two weeks, what began as one family’s worry became a community-wide mission to bring Penny home. Through neighbors, social media, and a local nonprofit devoted to reuniting lost pets with their families, Penny became, in many ways, everyone’s dog.
Paul and Patty live nearby in Wimberley but were out of state for the holidays while their daughter’s family cared for Penny in Dripping Springs. When they received the phone call that Penny was missing, they were shaken but hopeful. Trying not to panic, they told themselves that someone would certainly find their friendly pup.
But days passed with no sightings and no calls. The Martinos cut their trip short and returned to Texas to join the search. “It was hard,” recalls Patty. “If your pet dies, you grieve, but then you move on. But this was two solid weeks of wondering, ‘Where’s my dog?’”
Paul and Patty’s daughter Jill Allen immediately posted about Penny online, and the next day Jennifer Neill stepped in to help. Neill is the founder of Hill Country Rescue & Recovery, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to protecting the people, pets, and community of Dripping Springs and surrounding areas. She began by sharing Penny’s story through flyers and social media, coordinating search efforts and encouraging people to report sightings.
Several days later, there was finally a breakthrough when Penny was spotted miles away in a neighborhood near Dripping Springs High School. A video from a neighbor confirmed what everyone hoped—she looked healthy and was still wearing her collar. Neill and the Martinos blanketed the area with signage, Neill set up cameras and feeding stations, and they waited.
Then came a moment that felt heartbreaking. Paul and Patty were nearby when Penny suddenly appeared, running toward them as neighbors followed. “We’re standing in the street, and here she comes,” they recall. “And then, she takes a sharp turn around the corner and goes right past us!”
Neill explains that lost dogs often enter a survival state. Frightened and disoriented, they don’t behave as you would expect; they may not even respond to familiar voices or faces. Penny had been on her own for days, and she was in fight-or-flight mode. “It was devastating,” Patty shares. “She is so attached to me, and she literally just ran by us.”
By then, Dripping Springs was deeply invested. Sightings poured in as Penny crossed Highway 290 several times and moved across properties. Neill mapped Penny’s path while thousands followed the story online. “People really connected to this,” Patty says. “We were like, ‘Penny’s going viral!’”
Property owners gave them access to acres of land, drove them around to search the grounds, and allowed Neill to set up cameras, feed stations, and traps. “We were very thankful for the support of the community,” the Martinos say. “Everyone really went out of their way to help.”
After 13 days—amid freezing temperatures, New Year’s Eve fireworks, and unfamiliar surroundings—Penny was spotted at a horse stable off Creek Road. Attracted to cat food that had been set out on the property, she ultimately entered a humane trap set by Neill, triggering an alert. Penny was then safely transported to an enclosed barn, where she was reunited with her family.
“She didn’t look like a dog that had been out in the wilderness for two weeks,” Patty says. Aside from minor abrasions, Penny was healthy and clearly happy to go home.
Neill says, “Some people might say I shouldn’t have gotten the whole town involved, but it’s what brought this dog home. Our community is so wonderful. It was amazing seeing how everybody came together.”
Paul and Patty may be her family, but for two weeks, Penny belonged to all of us. And with the help of Hill Country Rescue & Recovery, it was the Dripping Springs community that ultimately carried her home.
Hill Country Rescue & Recovery
In early 2025, Jennifer Neill came across a social media post about a missing 16-year-old dog in her neighborhood and jumped in to help. Despite tireless efforts, there were no reported sightings, the dog was never found, and Neill couldn’t shake the feeling that a thermal drone might have made the difference. But while the technology was powerful, the cost felt prohibitive.
Then the July 4 floods hit Central Texas. Compelled to help with rescue and recovery efforts, Neill again found herself wishing she had that drone. Not long after, while getting her oil changed at Grease Monkey, an employee asked about her work. When Neill explained—and mentioned the thermal drone—the business owner offered to sponsor the drone for search and rescue efforts. That drone was later used in the search for Penny.
With that, Hill Country Rescue & Recovery was born. Based in Dripping Springs, the nonprofit fills a critical gap, serving an area often outside the reach of Austin-based rescue groups. The organization has two missions: mobilizing quickly when disasters strike Central Texas and—between emergencies—helping local families find lost pets.
Neill, a licensed therapist with both personal and volunteer experience in disaster recovery and search and rescue, brings calm and clarity to people in crisis. She has been involved with animal rescue since 2018, and her lost-pet recovery methods are thoughtful and multifaceted, drawing on her experience as a TEXSAR volunteer. Her approach combines wildlife tracking, meticulous mapping, topography analysis, and an intuition about how dogs move through unfamiliar terrain. “It’s not an exact science,” she says. “Every dog is different.”
Hill Country Rescue & Recovery never charges for its services. Funded entirely by donations and sponsors, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit relies on community support to protect what matters most: people, pets, and the community.
HillCountryRescueRecovery.org | facebook.com/hillcountryrescuerecovery