15-year-old deaf dog is missing for a day. Watch drone spot her tangled in vines

For more than 24 hours, Sonja Jarmoszuk was at a loss following the disappearance of her 15-year-old Portuguese water dog, Pumpkin.

Until she received “the answer to (her) prayers” by way of a thermal drone operator, WOIO reported.

After an unsuccessful night of searching for her dog, who went missing near her home in Rocky River, Ohio, Jarmoszuk enlisted the help of Craig Fazenbaker of Grunt Deer Recovery LLC on Sept. 14, according to WOIO.

“Pumpkin is an old gal and with her being hard of hearing and not so great on her mobility, we knew deep down that she couldn’t have gotten far,” Fazenbaker said on his company Facebook page.

The initial search covered the area of a Lake Erie embankment, but Fazenbaker said he “knew something was off.”

When he changed the color palette on his thermal imaging drone, suddenly he saw something.

“I got her! Right out back, right there,” Fazenbaker is heard saying, going on to tell the owner that Pumpkin was still alive and alert.

Fazenbaker then went to rescue Pumpkin himself, traveling through “the steep embankment and countless vines” that blocked his path.

WOIO reported Pumpkin had become tangled in the vines and was unable to move.

“As soon as my arms went around her, that’s when her tail was just instantly going to town like hey someone’s picking me up I’m safe now,” Fazenbaker told the station.

Within 20 minutes, Pumpkin was reunited with her owner, ending the 27-hour search.

Fazenbaker said “time was of the essence” in the search, and he applauded Jarmoszuk for knowing just what to do.

“We firmly believe that the owner did an AMAZING JOB on know when to reach out and ask for help,” he said on Facebook. “With her being so high in age Pumpkin would have 100% not have gotten free.”

Rocky River is about a 10-mile drive west from Cleveland.