Rex the dog was trapped on icy Lake St. Clair — but the Lakeshore, Ont., community rallied to save him

It was 28 long hours that Rex the dog was trapped on the ice of Lake St. Clair in Lakeshore, Ont.

But the Bondy family says they're overwhelmed after a post about their missing dog launched a community-wide search and rescue operation to bring him home safely this week. 

Jennifer and Anthony Bondy say the rescue operation felt like a movie with the way people came together to help them out. 

"It just shows that it really does take a village and we're really helpful for the people that were helping us out," said Jennifer Bondy.

It started Wednesday morning when Anthony, mid breakfast, looked in his backyard and couldn't find Rex or Charlie, the two family dogs who are usually pawing at the door to come in early in the winter temperatures. 

He fired up his surveillance camera and watched video of both dogs running off.

"They went down the dock, jumped on the canal and headed out toward the lake," said Anthony. 

Hopping into his vehicle, he raced through town to find his dogs before stopping at the edge of Lake St. Clair. 

That's where he spotted paw prints in the snow. 

"[Charlie] came back to me no problem, but Rex — I couldn't see him," he said.

Using binoculars, Anthony spotted a tiny speck — a fluffy white dog camouflaged in the snow — far out on the ice. 

"I walked out as far as I could but he just kept going further and further the wrong way," he said. 

At one point Anthony jumped on a dirt bike to try tracking down his dog. 

While a cold winter has kept a good chunk of St. Clair frozen with thick ice, a recent thaw made Anthony anxious.