WATCH: Stray Dog Leads Kentucky Police to Rescue Missing Three-Year-Old

A mysterious, stray dog — “a blessing from God,” an officer said — helped lead authorities in Louisville, Kentucky, to a missing three-year-old boy, which was documented in newly released body camera footage from police.

Several Louisville Metro Police Department officers were on the hunt for the child last week, employing a drone and a helicopter as well as searching on foot, according the department’s post on social media Monday.

The search was producing nothing, until seemingly out of nowhere a dog appeared on the frigid scene and started barking at one of the responding officers, who narrated what was happening along with his body cam footage.

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“As I’m walking to the front, the craziest thing happened. There’s a dog, and he’s walking with me,” officer Josh Thompson said.

The dog, an apparent shepherd mix, followed him to the front porch of the nearby house and the officer, being “a dog guy,” said he made a gesture to the canine and said, “Hey, let’s go find him. Let’s go.”

The dog spun around immediately and led Thompson to the back of the home. It kept returning there, barking, when he and another officer searched elsewhere.

“At that point I’m thinking, OK, this kid’s in the backyard,” he said.

The canine eventually sat next to the bumper of a SUV parked in the yard. When officers looked inside the vehicle, they saw the boy inside.

“The kid was in the front seat. Terrified,” Thompson said, adding that the door was locked.

He prompted the boy to pull the handle. The door unlatched.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a happier kid in my life. He jumped out of the car, bear hugged my neck and wouldn’t let go,” Thompson said.

Officers could be heard calling the dog “Lassie,” after the famous canine that was always making rescues in the TV series that ran for 17 seasons, until 1973.

Then the animal ran off.

Thompson has been patrolling that neighborhood for two years and found the dog’s appearance on the scene of the search perplexing.

“I’ve never seen that dog before,” he said. “I’ve never seen it since. I don’t know where the dog came from but it was a blessing from God that day.”

Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of the Los Angeles crime novel Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more