A pet pooch helped rescue workers find its owner after he had been missing for several days.

Gregorio, 84, had left his home in Moctezuma, north-western Mexico, on Sunday, 27th November.

But he had failed to return, prompting his niece Ramona and her family, with whom he lives, to search the city for him.

As he had left home on previous occasions to visit nearby towns, Ramona decided to wait for a few days to see if he returned, even though she felt uneasy doing so, as he sometimes suffered from memory loss.

She finally went to the Sonora Prosecutor’s Office on 1st December to report her uncle as missing.

Personnel from the National Guard, Municipal Police, and Municipal Civil Protection, along with a sniffer dog, immediately began searching for the missing OAP in the vicinity of Moctezuma.

But their searches were unfruitful.

However, a search on 4th December bore fruit after Gregorio’s pet dog Palomo, aged two, located its owner on an uninhabited patch of land between hills, paths, and ravines some three kilometres (two miles) from where he had last been seen.

He was dehydrated but otherwise sound, and he was taken to hospital for a check-up and to be stabilised.

He was diagnosed with dehydration and malnutrition and kept in hospital for several days, while his pet pooch Palomo remained faithfully at the hospital door.

It is not clear if Gregorio has since been discharged.