RICHMOND (AP) - The State Patrol says a family dog helped searchers find a 2-year-old boy who was lost at night in a central Minnesota cornfield.

The toddler was playing with siblings outside his home in Richmond last week when he wandered away. The Stearns County Sheriff's Office says family members called authorities after their search failed to locate him as it grew darker.

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The State Patrol sent up a helicopter with a heat-seeking device. Sheriff's Lt. Vic Weiss says searchers could hear a dog barking, then troopers in the air picked up the heat from the dog and the boy. The dog had not left the boy's side.

Weiss says the dog was in a protection mode and played a major role in locating the boy about three hours after he disappeared on a chilly night.

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