LONDONDERRY — Cats might have nine lives, but dogs only have one, and it was through one woman's efforts that a lost dog was reunited with his family.

Around 11 a.m. Thursday, Weston resident Donna Kuchas was driving down Route 100 in Londonderry when she saw a dog beside the road.

"The poor guy looked like he was going to run into traffic," Kuchas recalled, and she did what most people would not: she pulled over and opened her car door. The act was both kind and brave, because the dog in question was a 110-pound male Rottweiler/pit bull terrier mix.

"Immediately, the dog wanted to ride shotgun," Kuchas said, and she brought the dog — which she called Buddy — home with her.

The self-described animal lover is on her fourth or fifth golden retriever — she couldn't remember which — and as her dog and Buddy became fast friends, she called the Londonderry Town Office to report the lost animal.

"They said, because I brought the dog home to Weston, it was not their problem and I should call Weston instead," Kuchas said.

She did just that, and sent a digital photo to Weston's Animal Control Officer Ken Hall, who printed flyers with the dog's picture and Kuchas' phone number. It was the flyer that he hung in Mike & Tammy's Main Street Market in South Londonderry that caught the eye of the dog's owner, Linda Ewens.

"A friend of ours who works in the store said, 'Hey, this looks like your dog,'" Ewens said of the dog, whose name turned out to be Simba, but is also referred to by the name of a certain famous escape artist.

"He's kind of a Houdini," she said. "We have the whole property fenced in but he still gets out."

Ewens lives with her husband, Gary, 8-year-old daughter Katrina and 5-year-old son Keegan. Simba and Katrina have grown up together and he's been with Keegan his entire life, Ewens said, and both children are very attached to their dog.

"Pit bulls get a bad name because people say they're always biting people, but he is just the most gentle animal," Ewens said. "He is great with our kids — they used to ride him like a horse when they were younger — and they're great with our other animals, our goats and our horses."

It was a medical emergency that took the family away from the house Thursday, Ewens said. Keegan recently underwent surgery and complications forced the family to make an emergency trip to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., and it appears Simba took the family's trip as an opportunity to perform yet another escape.

Kuchas said she received the Ewens' call Friday.

"I knew when I saw the name on the caller ID it must be the owner," she said. "I cannot express the joy I felt when I brought him home. Tears rolled down my cheeks when I saw this dog being reunited with his loving family. They were just so overwhelmed at being reunited with their dog."

josh.ogorman@rutlandherald.com