Colorado police dog Mercury rescues a missing 85-year-old woman who was clinging to a tree in a ravine

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From Katherine Donlevy

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He deserves a round of A-paws.

A K-9 and his handler rushed to the rescue of an 85-year-old woman who had been clinging to a tree in a Colorado canyon last week.

Dramatic video from the mission shows Mercury and Greenwood Village Police Officer Austin Speer tracking down the woman just minutes after arriving on the scene.

Mercury – affectionately nicknamed “Merc” by Speer – ran along the grassy hill as his handler fired off a string of “good dog!” Affirmations.

The pair weave through several trees until they spot the missing woman “clinging to a tree in a steep ravine where she cannot be seen from the road or canal,” Greenwood Village police said.

“Hello, ma’am. This is a friendly dog. He found you. Isn’t that good?” Speer tells the woman as Mercury eagerly approaches her.

“We’ll take you home, okay?”

According to her son, the unnamed woman had been missing for two hours – but the dynamic duo tracked her down in just ten minutes.

“This is my mother and I am so grateful to Mercury and Officer Speer, the kind and professional responders I spoke with, and everyone involved in this team effort to save my mother who was ‘gassed’ after “She tried to climb that hill and wasn’t able to move,” the son said on Facebook.

“I looked for her for two hours and Mercury and Officer Speer found her in 10 minutes: INCREDIBLE! It was like watching a Navy Seal being taken out: I’m so grateful to live in the Greenwood Village community.”

The woman was returned safely to her family, police said.

The heroic pup joined the Greenwood Village Police Department a year and a half ago and has been specially trained in searching for and tracking missing people and detecting narcotics.