Shadow, a poodle

The couple that lost this dog were obviously overjoyed to get her back, yet they made no attempts to find him when released from the hospital after being treated for injuries from the auto accident they were in. It seems hard to believe, but I think they really felt there was really just no hope of finding him. The story illustrates what can be the debilitating effects of a lost dog owners' hopelessness for the dog to ever be reunited with them. But this story, fortunately, has heros in the CHP officers that considered the possible connection of an uncontained dog showing up, and an accident earlier in the same day.


Lucky dog going home
Animal rescued after surviving car crash and romp on Highway 152
By Kim Yancey
Friday, Jul. 11, 2008

Kim Jones of San Diego is thinking of giving her dog Shadow a new name -- "Lucky."

The 9-month-old poodle not only survived a rollover accident on Interstate 5 that sent Jones and her husband Loren to the hospital early Monday morning, but also lived through several hours of wandering in and out of traffic on Highway 152, some of the journey involved traveling west along the centerline of the eastbound lanes.

Fortunately for Shadow, Debbie Bassford and her family were on their way home to Los Baños from the Bay Area at about 2 p.m. -- 10 hours after the accident -- and spotted the dog trotting west in the center of the highway near the intersection of Highway 33.

The Bassfords turned around at the Interstate 5 interchange, and again through the median near Highway 33, to get in front of the dog in hopes of coaxing it off the highway.

"The dog was within inches of the tires of passing semi-trucks and kept wandering across the lanes into the median and back into the lanes," Bassford said. "I told my kids not to watch because I just knew the dog was going to get run over."

But with the help of another passing motorist, Bassford was able to convince the animal to abandon its meandering through a jungle of honking, swerving and speeding cars in favor of a ride to the Bassford's home.

Other than being hungry, a condition quickly remedied by Bassford's children as they fed the dog fries from In-N-Out Burger, and thirsty after 10 hours "on the road," the dog seemed to be in good health.

"The dog was obviously well taken care of and I knew somebody had to be looking for him," Bassford said.

She called the local police department and California Highway Patrol inquiring if anyone had reported losing a poodle; no one had. But CHP officers wondered if the dog and the accident hours earlier were in any way connected.

Two days later, the pieces of the puzzle came together.

Released from the hospital Wednesday, the Joneses decided to continue their journey to Yreka to visit family. Neither Kim nor Loren held much hope of ever seeing their dog again, an especially painful thought since the couple has no children and Shadow had become the center of their attention.

"I cried every time I closed my eyes and thought of him (Shadow)," Kim Jones said.

The couple had stopped in Corning to have breakfast on their way north when Loren Jones received a call on his cell phone from the highway patrol asking if there had been a dog in their vehicle at the time of the crash on Monday.

"I couldn't believe it -- my heart stopped," Loren Jones said.

The CHP gave the Joneses Debbie Bassford's phone number. A call to that number later, Loren and Kim were on their way back to Los Baños to be reunited with the dog they thought they had lost.

"Something in my heart said we'd find him," Loren Jones said.

Source: http://www.losbanosenterprise.com/114/story/30277.html