(CNN) - A little life vest wearing dog that slipped off a boat in the Chicago River Sunday is back with his owners after a nearly 24 hour search, and the help of some Good Samaritans.
"Yesterday morning we woke up to a nightmare and by midnight it was a dream come true," said Mark Lewis. Tank is a 5-year-old 10 pound Pomeranian and is now back with his Saint Charles, Illinois family after falling off a boat in the Chicago River and being lost for several hours.
"It's just a horrible feeling not knowing whether your child is lost on the river somewhere," said Mark. "We're overjoyed. (laughs) We just have our baby back and we just love him so much," said Mark's wife, Linn Lewis.
Mark says on Sunday evening, close to 7 p.m. Tank must have slipped off the back of their small boat. He was wearing a yellow life jacket with the word "Gladiator" written on it.
The couple immediately began an extensive seven hour search down the Chicago River several times, looping around Goose Island searching for Tank. "I was convinced Tank was not in the water or dead in the water and he was not on the shore, because we would have seen him," said Mark. "We had faith that he would swim to shore and find his way off and be running around somewhere," said Linn.
Ironically the dog was found not far from where he fell off the boat, near Lawrence and Kedzie. A woman says she was in the park walking her dog when Tank ran right up to them. Tank was found in the park north of Lawrence Avenue and the Chicago River by Katherine Santos.
Santos says she saw media reports with a picture of Tank and contacted the Lewis'. "My sister and I, we started looking online and then we saw him. He had the exact same vest on and everything. And then we contact the owner and then we told them we had him," said Santos.
"I was devastated Sunday evening knowing that Tank had entrusted his safety with me and I had failed him," said Mark. Tank is back home and happy to be playing with the Lewis' other dog, Cali.
The Lewis' were offering a $500 reward. They say Santos refused to accept money for reuniting their family.
