They kept going back for Bella.

The Medina family made multiple trips out to the section of the Willwood area where they believed their beloved Bella, a 7-month-old pit bull mix, had gone missing. 

Powell resident Rylee Ramsey, a stranger to the Medina family, was also looking. Something told her to go out there twice, she said, and on her second trip she found the lost pup.

Ramsey and her family had heard about the dog, and roughly where she was via Powell Valley Exchange on May 24. So, they decided to head Bella’s direction. They found where others had tried to assist the frightened pup and left food and water but could not find her, despite waiting for her to return.

That following Tuesday, Ramsey went to Billings and felt the need to look again so she took the back road.

“Something’s telling me, ‘You just need to go look real quick, you’re on your way home, take the back road that’s not out of the way at all,’” Ramsey said. “There was a storm coming in, I swung back there, and there she was in the middle of the highway.”

Bella was out there, and other passersby were having a difficult time wrangling her. They had been leaving her food and water but she wouldn’t come close. She was “scared lifeless,” Ramsey said and was growling, barking and running away from all who would try to catch her.

“I just pulled over and sat on the side of the road with some food, and she came up and laid right next to me and rolled over,” Ramsey said. “She let me pick her up and put her in my car, [she was] very submissive towards me, I was super shocked, I thought I was gonna have to make a corral and herd her into my car.”

Ramsey said Bella was communicating that she needed help and wanted to go home. After Ramsey got home, she began posting that the precious pup had been found. Once in Ramsey’s home Bella was shy and not very active, likely hungry and hurting from where her paws had torn. 

Ramsey bathed the dog and left the paws alone to avoid aggravating them, and when she tried to wrap them Bella removed the bandages, she said.

Maybe more than anything, Bella was tired.

“The minute I brought her home, she probably slept for 12 hours straight,” Ramsey said. 

Many people offered to help Bella and foster her, Ramsey said, and then one of Bella’s owners, Jason Medina reached out.

“It was definitely his dog. She ran to him, wagging her tail, jumping all over him and giving him kisses,” Ramsey said. “So he definitely knew she missed them, and they missed her.”

Bella became a member of the Medina family on Nov. 22, Jason Medina said. A friend of his sister had been selling dogs and his brother, who was turning 14, desperately wanted a dog for his birthday. While Bella is his brother’s dog, Medina helps look out for her.

Bella had gone missing after taking a ride with Medina’s sister in the back of the truck. They had gone out to drive around and take some photos and when she arrived back home Bella was gone.

“I was gone for state soccer. So everyone else went looking for her … trying to retrace her steps,” Medina said, adding, “They couldn’t find her, they didn’t know where she was at. So we just expected that maybe she was chasing a rabbit or something.”

Medina and the rest of his family continued to look for Bella both outside and at the animal shelter. It was worrying not to know where Bella was, Medina said, especially since he was in Gillette competing in state soccer, where he would receive the occasional text they were still looking for Bella.

“For my siblings, it was a lot on them, especially my sister ... she had no idea where Bella was at,” Medina said. “She thought it was just all, pretty much all her fault. It was just rough on her.”

They were looking until they saw Ramsey’s post, he said. Medina, a graduating member of Powell High School’s senior class, had come home from the senior bash when his mom showed him Ramsey’s post — he messaged her sometime after midnight Monday morning. 

When they finally did find Bella she ran up to the family, “my sister was freaking out, she was so happy to see her,” Medina said. 

The first night back Bella, who normally roams the Medina property, stayed inside and got back into the groove of things.

“When she went outside in her backyard, she kind of felt at home, she was able to smell everything, and she started running around for a bit,” Medina said.