A POLICE search dog helped save the life of an 11-year-old boy who was found wearing a thin T-shirt in cold weather after being reported missing last month.

A POLICE search dog helped save the life of an 11-year-old boy who was found wearing a thin T-shirt in cold weather after being reported missing last month.

Jenga the dog found the youngster lying on a muddy embankment on an area of rough farmland after he was noticed missing at 4.40pm on October 13.

The hound tracked along a hedgerow surrounded by dense thorn bushes and thick tree cover before crawling under the low lying thorn bushes before barking loudly when he located the missing boy, who was then reunited with his father.

Given the fading light and the remote location in which he was discovered, it would not have been possible for the helicopter to find him or for him to be seen by the officers and public involved in the search.

His position meant his body heat was dropping and hyperthermia was a possibility.