A family had an emotional reunion with a lost golden retriever who was lost for three months in the Colorado wilderness. The missing dog was found thanks to a police dispatcher's genius idea.

Taylor Salazar and her late husband, Fili, adopted the dog in 2019 when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The couple named the dog "Farrah," and Fili called her "the classic goldie."

"We needed something to brighten up our household. And she did just that," Salazar said. "He was in love with her the minute he saw her."

Fili died three months after Farrah was adopted, but the dog provided Taylor comfort during the grieving process.

On June 21, Salazar's father suffered a seizure while driving and crashed his car. Farrah was in the vehicle during the accident and ran away in the rural area of Colorado. Taylor's dad recovered, but Farrah was nowhere to be found.

Salazar searched for her golden retriever, but was unsuccessful. Salazar got the word out that her dog went missing, and some people saw Farrah.

"If they got too close, she'd run away and she knew where to go. She was hiding," Salazar told KRDO.

Farrah had gone missing for three months, but Taylor never lost hope of being reunited with her dog.

A dispatcher from the Fremont County Sheriff's Office had a brilliant idea. The Fremont County Sheriff's Office was scheduled to conduct an unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) exercise, and the dispatcher suggested searching for the dog during the training.

"Today the FCSO UAS team took part in a training mission with a humanitarian twist," the Fremont County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post. "Farrah the Golden Retriever was lost several months ago when the car she was in was involved in an accident."

"Today, the FCSO drone was deployed in the area where she was last seen," the sheriff's office stated. "Within minutes, Deputies spotted her using the drone's infrared camera."

Taylor said of her tearful reunion, “She stuck her head through the barbed wire fence, and then the next minute she’s laying in my lap and I was like, ‘I got her!’”

"I just started crying," Salazar said.

Salazar helped lure Farrah with chicken.

Being out in the harsh conditions of the Colorado wilderness caused Farrah to lose half her weight. The beloved golden retriever also had an injury to her leg and hip. A veterinarian said Farrah likely was hit by a car and expects one of her legs to be amputated.

Taylor is dedicated to nursing Farrah back to health. Besides the police, Salazar believes her late husband helped bring Farrah home.

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