An Alaskan family had given up hope after looking for their lost elderly dog who was blind for three long weeks.

But after Lulu was discovered in salmonberry bushes in the woods by a construction worker, their prayers were heard.

On June 18, the aging Golden Retriever strayed from the Kubacki family’s house and vanished. Concerned for her wellbeing, they started looking for her right away.

Ted Kubacki told the Daily Sitka Sentinel, ‘She’s just so helpless, and you kind of assumed that she can’t get very far because she can’t see.’

The family’s concern eventually gave way to despair as the weeks passed. They also received a nasty joke from a prankster who claimed to have discovered Lulu before later texting them to say ‘just kidding.’

The Kubacki family’s house was not too far away when a construction crew noticed an animal down an embankment by the side of the road.

The crew initially believed it to be a bear before realizing it was actually a dog.

When Ted heard that Lulu had been discovered, he was overjoyed. ‘I contacted my wife from work, but all I could hear was screaming…

She basically shouts out loud and then yells at the children. And all I can hear is their hysterical screaming,’ Kubacki claimed.

Lulu had ‘been through the wringer’ and didn’t even have the energy to lift her head, despite Kubacki saying he was looking for a cheerful, tail-wagging puppy.

The old Golden Retriever was dehydrated and in poor condition, having dropped 23 pounds (10.43 kilograms).

But happily, Lulu is recovering and being cared for by her family. The seven-person family needed assistance raising money to pay Lulu’s vet bill, and the Sitka neighborhood stepped up, according to the Associated Press.

Kubacki described Lulu’s recovery to the newspaper: ‘Slowly but surely she started eating and she was kind of able to pick her head up.’

However, the day before yesterday, she sat up on her front paws by herself, curled up next to me, and kissed me while wagging her tail.