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Buddy the dog was found and returned to his Akron home.

(Wallace family photo)

AKRON, Ohio -- A search for a family dog has ended after an Akron family's dog was found and returned home.

The missing dog gained widespread attention after the family released a short video of their heartbroken 5-year-old daughter pleading for someone to find him and bring him home.

The mother, Laura Wallace, let her Facebook friends and followers know that Buddy was found Saturday morning.

"We want to thank each and every single one of you for all of your love, support and PRAYERS!!" Wallace posted. "We finally have our Buddy Boy back home and our children and us couldn't be any happier! The woman who had him, found him the very night he went missing, about 5 minutes after he got out!!! We are so beyond thankful that she called!!!"

*****BUDDY IS HOME***** We want to thank each and every single one of you for all of your love, support and PRAYERS!! ... Posted by Laura Wallace on Saturday, April 22, 2017

Wallace's 5-year-old daughter, Madison, was heartbroken after Buddy went missing and the family posted a video of her wanting her dog back.

She has three other children, Kamron, 11, Christian, 8, and MacKenzie, 1, but Madison is the closest to buddy.

The year-old Pit Bull mix went missing from the family's yard on Delmar Avenue off Glenwood Avenue in North Hill since Monday. The gate to the yard was open, but their other dog, a Great Dane-Doberman mix, was still in the yard.

The family got Buddy when he was found as a stray, beat up and very thin. They nursed him back to health. When an owner never came forward to claim him, the family kept him.

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