Huskies are a strong breed.

The northern dogs have soft coats, strong legs and have been bred to survive harsh conditions.

Theresa Pryzbylski kept a watchful eye on her husky Monday afternoon as Dr. Larry Letsche examined 6-year-old Mandy at Remrock Farm in Salem Township. Bill Pryzbylski stood outside on the porch, basking equally in the warmth of the sun and his own relief.

"It's just unbelievable," he said with a smile. "Unbelievable."

While hundreds of huskies began the Iditarod in Fairbanks, Alaska, on Saturday, three of the Pryzbylskis' dogs started a trek Friday night that could have been far more perilous than the 1,000-mile arctic race.

The pure-bred dogs were abandoned after a van belonging to the couple was stolen at the Red Roof Inn on State Street in Ann Arbor. Two of the missing canines, 3-year-old sisters Dinali and Shelby, were found in Detroit Saturday and the van was recovered Sunday, but it wasn't until Monday afternoon that Mandy was finally spotted walking down the street.

"Someone saw them in the same neighborhood where Dinali was found, north of 10 [The Lodge Freeway] and east of Wyoming," Theresa Pryzbylski said.

"They saw her and called the radio station and the radio station called me. We called the search party people to get everyone over to that area."

When Theresa and Bill arrived, they began to follow Mandy down the road, but three days on the streets had made her wary.

"My husband cut her off, she was trotting down the street. He cut her off in the truck and then got out of the car," Theresa said.

"She didn't recognize me at first," said Bill. "I wasn't driving the van she was used to seeing. That's the only car she's ever been in, so when I got out, she didn't really know it was me."

"He didn't go to grab her, he just crouched down, talked to her sweet, told her he was going to give her a biscuit," Theresa said. "She gradually started to recognize who he was and walked towards him and he was able to grab the collar."

Mandy was briefly startled when Bill grabbed onto the collar.

"She went and tried to bolt a little," Theresa said. "But he wasn't letting go."

The three-day search began Friday night when Theresa returned from walking her male dog, Cruiser, around the Red Roof Inn at 3505 S. State St. in Ann Arbor and saw that her Ford Econoline van--along with the other three dogs--was missing.

"Their stamina and endurance, that was the good and the bad thing," Theresa Pryzbylski said.

"The good thing was they have the stamina and endurance to handle it, but the bad thing is that's what kept them going and hard to find."

The couple had brought their four huskies into town for the Siberian Husky Club of Greater Detroit show in Dexter, but ended up leading a regional search for a van and the three missing animals. The ordeal was trying for Theresa and Bill, who were exhausted but elated as they brought Mandy, matted and walking with a noticeable limp, into Remrock Farms Veterinary Services in Washtenaw County's Salem Township.

"She's hurt her leg, she pulled a muscle probably from all the running around she's been doing," Dr. Larry Letsche told Theresa in the examination room.

"Both of her front legs are pretty sore, but overall she's in great shape considering what she's been through."

Mandy also had a scrape on her chin that will require a course of antibiotics, but the stitches she had from a recent spaying were in good shape, Letsche said.

"They're scheduled to come out tomorrow, so I would go ahead and wait until then just to be safe," he said.

"Wait until you get home and you can have them taken out there."

Searchers had come from all over southeast Michigan to help locate the missing dogs. A Facebook page dedicated to finding the huskies had more than 1,600 "Likes" and hundreds of people spent hours combing the streets of metro Detroit for the animals.

"It's been phenomenal. Detroit has been phenomenal, the dog community, the people, everyone has just been phenomenal helping us," Theresa said Monday in the vet's waiting room.

"Like I said, it's just been a roller coaster of a weekend."

The Pryzbylskis planned to return to the Red Roof Inn Monday afternoon to reunite their dogs and then leave Tuesday morning to return home to Illinois.

Ben Freed is a general assignments reporter for The Ann Arbor News. Email him at benfreed@mlive.com and follow him on twitter at @BFreedinA2. He also answers the phone at 734-623-2528.