Dalmatian puppy sneaks into Hillsborough fire house

TAMPA (FOX 13) - A puppy apparently snuck in to a Hillsborough County fire station Tuesday and made himself part of the crew, and after a post on Facebook was shared thousands of times, the dog's owners came forward to take him home.

The dalmatian puppy apparently knew just where he should go for help after being lost for almost an entire day. The black spotted, white doggie followed an engine into the garage bay as the vehicle returned from a call around 2:30 Tuesday morning.

"A dalmatian walks into the fire station, you can't get any more cliche than that," laughed HCFR spokesman Corey Dierdorff.

Firefighters said, "he eagerly made himself part of the crew," in a Facebook post Tuesday afternoon. 

They gave him a bath and washed him off and checked with animal services to see if anyone was missing him and found out he wasn't microchipped. 

Later Tuesday evening, the dog's owners came to Station 5 and claimed him. His name is Chico and he went missing Monday, according to his humans.