05/18/2026
Yesterday, my friend Josh reached out to me about a missing Australian Shepherd named Lily. A woman had contacted him for help, but due to unfortunate circumstances he wasn’t able to respond, so he passed her information along to me.
Because of the warm temperatures yesterday, conducting a thermal drone search during the daytime wasn’t ideal, so we scheduled the search for 7:00 PM. I arrived that evening and spent hours covering miles of terrain searching for Lily. We located many other animals throughout the night, but unfortunately no sign of her. Around 10:30 PM, after exhausting the area, we made the difficult decision to call it for the evening.
Heartbroken and discouraged, I packed up and started heading to another call nearly two hours away involving a missing calf. While speaking with that owner on the phone and discussing details, I suddenly spotted Lily along the side of the road approximately 3–4 miles from her home.
I immediately contacted her owner and carefully tried to gain Lily’s trust using her favorite treat — “Biscuits.” She seemed unsure, but not frightened, and calmly walked alongside my truck as I talked softly to reassure her. Unfortunately, a passing vehicle sped toward us and startled her. She bolted across a ditch and disappeared behind a nearby house.
At that moment, I truly felt like we had lost our opportunity. I quickly stopped, turned on my flashers and began searching again. Lily’s dad arrived shortly after, and although I explained what had happened, I knew she couldn’t have gotten far. The surrounding field was massive, and with deer still bedded nearby, I felt confident she was still close.
After about 25 minutes of searching with no luck, I landed, swapped batteries, and launched again. This time, while scanning the field edges, I located Lily lying down behind the house roughly 1,000 yards from where she had run off. I marked her location immediately. We landed the drone, located the property, and Lily’s dad spoke with the homeowner, who kindly gave us permission to retrieve her.
With the drone back in the air and Lily located once more, her dad headed in with a headlamp. As he got closer, I turned on the drone lights — and moments later, Lily was safely reunited with her family. Seeing her tail wagging after such a long adventure made every second worth it. Coming from Texas, these mountains were far different from what she was used to, but she made it home safely.
Situations like this are exactly why I continue doing what I do. Lily’s family never gave up on her, and with persistence, teamwork, technology, and a little bit of luck, we were able to bring her home where she belongs.
