A beloved pet dog has finally been reunited with its family after a massive search involving police, coastguards and a pair of sausage-dangling drones. As part of the four-day operation, desperate searchers resorted to attaching Millie the Jack Russell-Whippet cross's favourite savoury snack to drones and flying them over mud flats in a bid to lure her to safety. After she had been missing for two days, Millie's owner, Emma Oakes, was becoming increasingly worried as several sightings reported her dog running near main roads. The extraordinary operation to locate her involved Hampshire Constabulary, the Solent Coastguard, kayakers and volunteers from Denmead Drone Search and Rescue (DDSAR). Ms Oakes, says Millie 'followed her nose to safety' and even nearly took down one of the drones when she latched onto the end of one of the sausages. The 40-year-old, who works as an agency care manager, said three-year-old Millie went missing last week after she 'slipped out' of her collar and lead and 'didn't stop' running. Miss Oakes, from Purbrook in Portsmouth, said: 'Millie really likes food and she'll eat anything you give her... raw carrots, cucumber - but she much prefers sausages. 'Meat is her favourite food, so dangling a sausage was probably the best thing they could lure her with. 'DDSR lured her away from the dangerous area with the sausage and, later, they started a barbecue on the beach with more sausages to try to get her further down. 'But because Millie had managed to grab hold of one of the sausages and have a nibble - nearly pulling the drone down - she wasn't as hungry as before. 'The smell of the sausages definitely attracted her and she followed her nose to safety. They pretty much saved the day. 'Where Millie was she would have ended up going under, because the water kept getting higher and higher. 'If they hadn't had tried luring Millie with the sausages, she probably wouldn't have survived.' After sightings of Millie on mud flats at Farlington Marshes near Portsmouth, DDSAR and the Coastguard were deployed with drones and kayaks to find and save the dog. The disappearance of Millie the Jack Russell (pictured) prompted a huge search and rescue operation near Portsmouth involving Hampshire Constabulary and search and rescue teams Specialist drone rescue teams tied a sausage to a device in a bid to lure the dog to safety DDSAR volunteers had the innovative idea of attaching sausages to the drones in an attempt to 'lure' Millie to safety. One of the volunteers, Elliot Exton, explained: 'At high tide, we had two teams in a kayak try to go out to see where she was after the sighting. 'We came up with the idea to hang sausages on the drone to lure her towards the team, as it was high tide and we didn't want to risk her drowning. 'But Millie wouldn't cross the mud and would only stay on the grassy bits.' Despite volunteers staying out until the early hours of Sunday morning, they were unsuccessful in luring Millie in with the savoury snacks. Ms Oakes, a care manager, said juggling her work whilst searching for Millie had been 'exhausting', adding she had spent many nights worrying about her welfare. Millie was spotted on mudflats and rescuers were concerned for her safety to attempted to lure her to safety by dangling a sausage - her favourite snack - from a drone in front of her The sausage was not enough to lure Millie off the safety of the grassy section of the mudflats But when Millie was finally spotted again in Havant, near Portsmouth, on Monday, Ms Oake's father, Tony Oakes, and his border collie Jasper rushed to the scene to rescue her. The Jack Russell ran towards the pair upon recognising them, and jumped into Mr Oakes' arms. A relieved Ms Oakes said: 'Relief just poured over me. I'd been searching for Millie and working at the same time, I just became exhausted all of a sudden. 'It was just absolutely fantastic to have her home. When my dad rang me, I could just breath again and not have to worry everyday. 'It's such a huge relief to finally have her home. Millie is so traumatised, bless her. 'She's very skittish and scared of everyone who gets up close to her.' Ms Oakes also thanked the emergency services and volunteers for their help during the search - especially the 'fantastic' drone team for their constant updates and maverick ideas to rescue Millie. Mr Exton added that though it was a gruelling search for the dog, it was well worth it in the end. He said: 'We'd like to thank everyone who reported the sightings to us. 'We're all volunteers, we don't ask for any money, we just always want what is best for the dog.' Miss Oakes first took Millie in when the pooch was just a year old, after she rescued as a stray in Romania. 'Millie's a rescue dog so she's quite timid and scared of things anyway,' Miss Oakes added. 'She loves being at home more than anything and now she's back all she's doing is sleeping. She just sleeps and eats and looks at you as if to say, 'I'm resting, leave me alone'. 'It's so great to be reunited with Millie, and I can't thank DDSR enough. They knew exactly what they were doing and were fantastic. 'The vet says she's really traumatised by the event, so we are going to get her a trainer to bring her confidence back up. 'But at least now we know how to entice her back if she goes missing again: sausages.' All rights reserved for this news site (dailymail) and under his responsibility