ALBUQUERQUE, NM — It’s been nearly two weeks since Rose Romero lost her service dog, Ivy, who went missing during a massive water main break in northeast Albuquerque.

The workmen still haven’t repaired the breach and Rose is still looking for Ivy. Rose is blind and has had Ivy by her side longer than she has lived in this house.

Now she thinks Ivy is suffering from all the damage. And at this point, she just wants closure.

“After a while, I started saying, ‘No, it’s in the garage.’ But the garage wasn’t a priority because of the structural issue, so no matter when I brought it up, it wasn’t going to happen,” Rose said.

Rose has done a lot and received a lot of help. She started a petition asking the city of Albuquerque to help her get into her home to find out what happened to her service dog, Ivy. In less than 24 hours, more than 800 people signed that petition.

“We’re trying to show the city that people are engaged and interested and that we’re not going away,” Rose said.

The Albuquerque Fire Department did everything it could Thursday to help a trainer and her tracking dog search for Ivy. The dog and trainer found two scent marks of her in the garage, which allowed them to find out for sure if she was there.

“The engineer said it can happen and they’ll do what they need to do, but they’ll do it as safely as possible and their goal tomorrow is to clear the garage,” Rose said. “But I hate it when people have to come out when she’s in the garage. We need to know. If she’s in there, we’ll get her out.”

Although debris prevented them from continuing, they are still working. Rose was waiting for approval from the gas company on Thursday to make sure no gas lines are live. Then once they get that cleared away…

“They’ll probably get a dumpster tomorrow and start slowly going through the side wall so as not to affect the other row house next to it. And they’ll start pulling out piece by piece to recover Ivy if she’s still there,” she said.

And Romero is grateful for the help.

“I am grateful to each and every person, no matter how much time they invested in helping me. I see that and I appreciate it. And I am grateful that the city is taking responsibility and being there for me and my daughter,” she said.

Rose and her daughter live in a house next door. They will stay there for the next few months while workers repair the damage to their house. As for the pipe in the street, people can expect the work to be completed by Tuesday.