( CNN ) -- When Piper Below lost her dog , Jack , on a morning walk , the last thing she expected was to find him with the help of hundreds of strangers on the Internet . But since Below was desperate to track him down , she did just that -- by going to popular Internet forum Reddit and posting a plea on the Houston board for residents to look out for her dog . After an outpouring of people offered to keep an eye out , one Reddit user found Jack wandering in the parking lot of a grocery store and reached out to let Below know . `` REDDIT HE 'S FOUND ! ! ! ! AND YOU DID IT ! ! ! ! ! I have to leave to take him to the vet but he seems like maybe he 's ok . I COULD KISS YOU ALL ! , '' Below wrote on the forum . Below , a professor at the University of Texas School of Public Health , told HLN that she was originally worried that she could n't dedicate the time to Jack that he deserved . After finding the dog wandering dazed in the middle of the street in early September , she took him in and tried to do what she could to nurse him back to health . `` He had skin infections , eye infections . He was filthy , malnourished , you name it , '' she said . `` He seemed sweet for a dog that did n't seem coherent . I have never owned a dog before , but I did my best to nurse him back to health . '' After a few rounds of meds and some good rest , Jack seemed to be making a speedy recovery ... but Below 's plan to find him a home elsewhere was quickly eroding . `` I kept seeing this incredible personality come out of him , '' she told HLN . `` When we went to the vet to get his issues addressed , he just set his chin on my knee and waited calmly while he got prodded and poked . He had only known me for a week , and he had stolen my heart . '' Below had made the decision to keep Jack in early October . She , Jack and a neighbor were walking in an empty lot near her home on December 1 when Jack slipped through a gap in the fence and took off . Below watched as he ran into the street and was hit by a big , white truck . `` He bounced off the truck , got up and ran back toward us . I thought he was coming back , but he darted off instead . And I knew I had to find him , '' she told HLN . That night , Below decided to take to Reddit to see if she could spread the word to look for Jack . She posted in several different forums and went to sleep after spending time with supportive friends . The next morning , she woke up to hundreds of messages . A Reddit user put her in touch with a man that maintains a large email list of people involved in animal rescue , which eventually led to one of the people on the list finding Jack . Below was at work at around 3:30 p.m. Monday when she got a phone call from a woman who said she had her eyes on Jack nearby . Below darted as fast as her legs could carry her to find them . `` A man came up to me when I was running to meet her and asked if I had seen a dog , and I said `` I 'm looking for my dog ! ' and he said ' I 'm from Reddit ! ' It was crazy and amazing , '' Below said . Below finally found Jack with the woman who had contacted her , and when she did , the reunion was nothing but tears and palpable relief . `` I saw his body relax as soon as he saw me , '' she told HLN . `` So I had this scared , filthy dog in my arms , and I was crying . There just are n't words . '' Below said that the support from Reddit stunned and amazed her . `` I got e-mails from people that said ' I go on a walk every day . I 'll reroute near where Jack was lost and look for him . ' One woman said she was stuck at home with an injury and had nothing to do , so she would go look for him . And even when we found him , we met someone who was out looking for him , '' she told HLN . While not a heavy Reddit user before now ( Below describes herself as more of a `` lurker '' ) , she said that the site is an incredible tool for gathering information and that she uses it daily to keep an eye on what 's going on in the world . `` It curates the entire Internet for you , '' she told HLN . `` And thanks to it , I found my dog . ''
Piper Below lost her dog during a morning walk . Strangers on Internet forum Reddit helped her find the pup . Below said the support from Reddit stunned and amazed her .