FRISCO, Colo. (KDVR) — A dog was rescued after spending nearly a week alone in the mountains thanks to a local pet rescue group who stepped in.

Silky, a border collie, was on a hike with her owner Eric Erslev on July 12 when they heard thunder in the distance that spooked her.

Erslev couldn’t catch up to her fast enough, and she was gone.

They were on Buffalo Mountain Trail in White River National Forrest, which, according to the forrest’s website, has a rule that dogs should be under control, on leash or responsive to verbal command.

Erslev has had Silky for two years, and they go on hikes regularly but nothing like this has ever happened.

“She’s gained a lot of muscle with me because I am very active, she’s a great companion,” Erslev said,

They were on Buffalo Mountain Trail when they were separated, but she was found near Willowbrook Trailhead over three miles away.

“We’ve climbed much bigger peaks and never seen her one-fourth as exhausted. She snored a lot when we got home,” Erslev said. “But she recovered in a day and a half. I think I’m still in the process of recovering.”

Summit Lost Pet Rescue Group was able to save the day with flyers and boots on the ground.

“We get boots on the ground, we have people that are trained in how to get a lost dog because they sort of go into this fight or flight mode and they don’t come to anyone,” volunteer Karen Payne said. “So we went out we searched, we followed water sources, we bushwhacked, we covered as much area as we could where we thought Silky was.”

Summit Pet Rescue is completely donation-based, with all funds going directly to supplies and materials to assist in rescues. If you’d like to donate you can do so on the website.

For them, it’s their mission to find all lost pets in Summit County because reunions like this mean everything to their owners.

“We are just dog lovers and pet lovers and want all the pets that do get lost to be found and get back with their owners. It’s dangerous out there, anything can happen to them,” Payne said.