Lying in long grass next to a lake, stroke victim Herbert Bartlett was barely visible to rescue crews.
Hundreds of emergency workers had been searching for the 86-year-old after he wandered off from Maitland Hospital on Monday morning, wearing his blue hospital pyjamas.
Mr Bartlett may not have survived if it weren't for the energetic two-year-old German shepherd, Ulrich, who tracked him down about 11am on Thursday.
The police dog found Mr Bartlett on Bonar Street, about 200 metres from the hospital.
Mr Bartlett was in an extremely poor state when he was rescued by Ulrich and his handler, Senior Constable Dave Wynn.
He was treated by paramedics and taken back to hospital.
Mr Bartlett, known as Nobby, had been recovering in hospital from a stroke six weeks ago.
His family told police he was frail and may have been disorientated from his stroke when he disappeared.
It has been a good week for the police force's top dogs.
On Saturday night, police dog Marco found a missing man clinging to a tree branch in the Wyong River.
The 65-year-old, who had wandered off from an aged care facility on the Central Coast, had been obscured by the branch and could not be seen by any of the rescuers.
Crews were about to leave the search area but Marco became fixated on the spot and kept barking until the man was found.
Ulrich became a fully accredited police dog only two months ago and his dad, Chuck, is also a star dog in the Dog Unit.
According to his blog on Facebook, Ulrich has already chased two suspects running from a stolen car, swum through creeks to stop two thieves and located a suspect hiding in the roof cavity of a house.
Later this week, he will perform in a dog show at the Royal Easter Show.
