The owner of a Bernese Mountain dog rescued Thursday after being lost for 15 days in the North Shore mountains wonders what Hurley would have to say for himself if he could talk.

“He was 115 pounds when he went up there and he’s down to 90 pounds. He’ll definitely be getting t-bone steak tonight,” said Darwin Schandor, the relieved owner of the 18-month-old puppy.

Hurley was saved in a dramatic helicopter rescue Thursday after an aerial team from North Shore Rescue brought him out off a heavily wooded trail in North Vancouver.

The subject of a search by hundreds of people since he was lost, Hurley was spotted by a hiker near Mosquito Creek early Thursday afternoon. North Shore Rescue dropped an aerial team 30 metres down and hoisted him to safety.

North Shore Rescue search manager Tim Jones said Hurley was found on a 10-foot-wide ledge at the 1,800 foot elevation beside a water source.

"He probably fell and tumbled there. He wasn't hurt other than a scratched paw. But he was stuck. He couldn't get off," Jones said.

It was too dangerous to send rescuers in on foot so flight team members Mike Danks and Jeff Yarnold flew in to retrieve the puppy.

Although malnourished, Hurley didn’t run from his rescuers, who were able to grab his leash and strap him into a harness to get him out.

Jones said while initially scared it took the men about 10 minutes to get Hurley to come to them but afterwards he was fine with flying out in the harness.

"The bulk of the credit goes to the owner and the volunteers who did the bulk of the search. We provided maps and advice to them (over the past two weeks) but came in after a member of the public spotted the dog. It was a complete fluke he found him," Jones said.

The Schandor family was on vacation in Maui during spring break when Hurley was reported missing a day before they were due to come home.

The puppy, the family’s first pet, was with a dog service that had promised to use GPS tracking collars when they took the dog for a walk. However, on the day Hurley was lost, he was not wearing the collar.

Schandor said while he was obviously upset with the company initially, he appreciated that the owner put in long hours searching every day with hundreds of other volunteers. Schandor said he was out every day and at first, 12- to 15-hour days were common.

“I have to admit this company was out there every day and when we found him the owner [of the company] was as emotional as I was,” said Schandor.

“It has been tough these past two weeks. Every day my kids would go to bed crying and it was the hardest thing to do to walk out [of the mountains] each night without Hurley.”

He said the family was beginning to think “we wouldn’t get him back.”

He said a friend set up a Facebook page called “bring Hurley home” and the puppy had as many as 5,000 friends.

“It’s a great dog story. A great humanitarian story. There were so many people searching, bike groups, trail runners, off-duty police officers, firefighters, dog lovers,” said Schandor.

“He was the most famous lost dog on the North Shore. We’re the happiest family in the world right now,” said Schandor, whose wife and 10-year-old son and eight-year-old daughter have been lavishing attention on the puppy.

“We won’t be taking another vacation without our pet,” he said.

kpemberton@vancouversun.com