By Lori Ehde
It was a Christmas homecoming like no other for Brian and Maria (Harrison) Kremin last week.
Their dog, Montana, a 140-pound mastiff, had been missing for months, and they were starting to wonder if they'd ever see her again.
The couple lives in Kansas City but had the dog with them in September for a visit to Brian's family near Kanaranzi. During that visit, Montana got lost after Brian took her for a walk near the river.
In the weeks and months since then, the Kremins have been beside themselves looking for 3-year-old Montana.
"She's our baby," Maria explained in a phone call from Kansas City. "Every single weekend we came back to look for her. We put over 20,000 miles on our cars."
They also aired regular radio announcements about the lost dog, Dave Paquette flew them in his plane to see if they could spot her from the air, and they offered a $200 reward for Montana's safe return.
Every week, they'd hear from residents between Rock Rapids and Kanaranzi that they'd spotted the dog but couldn't get their hands on her.
"She's very skittish," Maria said. "One time, we got a call from a guy who said, 'I'm standing here looking at your dog. What can I do to get her in my garage?'"
She said when time passed without sightings, they feared Montana was dead.
Then, on Christmas day when the couple was back home for the holidays, another call came in about Montana.
Several Rock Rapids area residents, plus the Kremins in their two cars and Maria's parents, Lowell and Shirley Harrison, all drove to the area where Montana had been seen.
"When I saw her, I started to bawl, because she was just skin and bones," Maria said.
After roaming for months with little nourishment the dog had lost 40 pounds.
"She was just wild," Maria said. "But once I got her collar, she sat down and kind of melted into me."
The dog had been shot with a tranquilizer dart, but Maria said Montana still managed to wag her tail.
"I was totally bawling, Brian was bawling, and people stood around and just looked at us," she said. "All I wanted for Christmas is to have Montana back."
She said she and Brian are grateful for all the help they had finding Montana, who appears to be recovering well from the trauma.
"People were so wonderful - all of them," she said. "These were strangers that we didn't even know."