It’s a parent’s worst nightmare to look around and discover their child is nowhere in sight. The Bensch family of Arizona knows precisely how that feels.

In February of 2010, their 3-year-old daughter Victoria wandered away from their home in Cordes Lakes. Thinking that her dog Rusty had run away, she had gone off to find him with her other dog, Blue, by her side.

But Rusty was home. It was Victoria and Blue who ended up missing somewhere in the surrounding desert.

When her parents found that she was missing, they had a hunch the independent little girl had gone off in search of one of her dogs. They spent over an hour searching around the property and surrounding area and yelling her name to no avail.

When they called the police, a rescue team was launched. Authorities considered the evidence and thought it was likely that she had wandered off and that abduction was unlikely.

But aside from being worried sick about the little girl, everyone needed to consider just how cold it would get at night. Victoria would be out in 30-degree weather in just the t-shirt she left the house in.

Even with the use of officers on horseback, scent dogs, all-terrain vehicles, and night vision goggles, Victoria was nowhere to be found in the rocky terrain.

Just to be safe, the police checked up on local area sex offenders in case she had been abducted. They set up roadblocks and checked every car leaving the area.

But by morning, Victoria was still missing.

They needed something more than manpower, so they launched a helicopter to try to do an aerial search.

Within 5 minutes of taking flight, rescuers spotted Blue, the dog she had left with. He was just 1/2 a mile from the family’s home in a dry river bed. But when the looked more closely, they saw that next to him lay a child.

“She wasn’t moving when we first came upon her,” rescuer Matthew Uhl said. “She was kind of just looking face-down on the ground.”

Everyone let out a sigh of relief when the sound of the helicopter roused Victoria and she could be seen getting up on her knees.

After they landed, medic Eric Tarr jumped out and approached Victoria, but Blue stepped in to protect her.

Then the little girl smiled and that changed everything. Blue knew she was in good hands.

“I think once the dog realized we were there to help them out, he was very excited,” Uhl said. “He ran around while the medic tended to the little girl, and when it was time to go, he jumped right into the helicopter and was ready to go.”

Everyone cheered as the call came in that the girl was located alive and Victoria’s parents rushed to the hospital where medics would be taking her.

Victoria had been gone in the cold weather for 15 hours and needed attention.

She had some frostbite on her bare feet and was covered in dirt and scratches, but her injuries would heal.

She told everyone that the Queensland heeler, Blue, kept her safe and warm throughout the night.

“The dog kept her alert, warm and gave her companionship throughout a very cold night,” said Dwight D’Evelyn, spokesman for the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office.

It was a very happy ending to the worst day of her parents’ lives.

Be sure to scroll down below to see footage from the rescue.

Please SHARE this with your friends and family.

Source: The Arizona Republic, SHARKSWHALESANIMALS via YouTube