Boy, that countryside near Battle Mountain is a tough, tough, tough, tough place to go it alone!:
The Dec. 27 single-vehicle accident on Interstate 80 near Battle Mountain, about 225 miles east of Reno, sent Bagley and her 55-year-old husband, Brad Vom Baur, to the hospital in critical condition. Their other sheltie, Delaney, was killed in the wreck. Dooley ran away and vanished.
Bagley, 48, suffered a concussion, broken ribs, a shattered wrist and two punctured lungs. As soon as she mustered up enough strength, she turned her attention to a search for her dog in the sprawling sage-covered plains and hills of northeastern Nevada.
...More than three weeks later, Bagley's spirits were buoyed after a woman reported spotting "a Lassie-type" dog near the accident scene. A subsequent search joined by Bagley turned up nothing, but a railroad crew spotted a dog matching the same description in mid-February in the same area about 15 miles east of Battle Mountain.
Further searches netted a positive identification of Dooley but frustration as well because the skittish dog kept fleeing from Bagley and other searchers. Finally, Shannon Sustacha of Lamoille, who was on horseback, and a Bagley friend driving a Jeep cornered Dooley only five miles from the crash scene. The friend managed to nab the sheltie and put him in the Jeep.
An ecstatic, tearful Bagley arrived at the scene a short time later.
"Barbara got next to us and said three times, `You think he'll remember me?'" Sustacha said. "When Barbara opened the door and looked at him, she said, `My beautiful boy, my beautiful boy, you're home.' Oh, boy, all of us cried. I knew his adventure in Nevada was over. I also knew he and Barbara could start healing together."
...During his ordeal, Dooley's weight dropped from 44 pounds to 20 pounds. He was once spotted devouring a dead coyote along the roadway. A long bird bone was pulled from his throat by a veterinarian.
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