COEUR d'ALENE - The dog stood, its head hanging down, its soft, brown ears drooping toward the floor, as it waited Friday, at the end of a leash, in a Coeur d'Alene veterinarian's office.

It was hard to tell whether the animal was having trouble physically holding its head up, or if it was just that depressed, like Eeyore, the character from Winnie-the-Pooh.

"I think she's sad," said Autumn Jolley, the co-director of Power of the Paw, an Idaho animal rescue organization based in the Post Falls/Rathdrum area.

The dog's skin clung to its rib cage and hips, like furry paper stretched across the bones, with no visible muscle tissue in between. Walking was a challenge.

A large lump, about 2 inches wide and an inch high, extended from the animal's back.

Thanks to the lure of the huckleberry, the compassion of a Rathdrum family and the efforts of Jolley's rescue group, the female dog, a German shorthaired pointer, is now positioned for a better life, and hopefully, improved health.

Her new name, Hope, is no coincidence.

The dog is now being fostered by a family that found her Wednesday, deep in the woods, in the mountains above the North Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River.

Sarah Clemens, her husband, Chris, and their two young children, ages 4 and 2, had left their Rathdrum home for a day of fishing, swimming and huckleberry picking. They drove many miles into the forest, in search of the berries.

As they drove back down toward the river, they were on a dirt road, about 20 miles past the spot where the pavement would begin, when they saw the dog.

"She was just walking, kind of limping, down the road," Sarah said.

They pulled their vehicle over and stopped.

"There's nothing out there, no homes, nothing," she said. "We saw the big bump on her shoulder and decided to take her with us."

Sarah said she'd heard stories of dogs being dumped in the forest, and thought that might be the case with this animal.

The family stopped at a small convenience store along the way, the only one around, and asked if anyone was looking for a dog like the one they found.

"The people said they hadn't heard anything, that no one's looking for the dog. They said it probably was dumped, that it happens all the time," Sarah said.

When they got the animal back to Rathdrum, Sarah said she and her husband began looking for a safe place to bring the dog.

Because her family already has a dog with special needs, that now requires costly surgery, Sarah said they just couldn't afford to keep the animal they'd found.

"It just breaks my heart. We really didn't want to have to take her to the shelter. I would just hate for that to be her last place to be," Sarah said.

They contacted a few rescue groups, and found Jolley's organization, Power of the Paw, on Facebook.

Jolley's group offered to pay for the dog's food, vet bills and euthanasia, if and when it might be needed, if the Clemens family agreed to keep the pooch comfortable and safe.

Sarah said she and her husband decided to keep the dog with them, and are hoping the animal recovers.

"Then, she can find a forever home," Sarah said. "She's the sweetest girl."

Jolley brought the dog, Hope, to visit the veterinarian, Dr. Amoreena Sijan at Lake City Pet Hospital in Coeur d'Alene, on Friday.

"She's in pretty bad shape ... but you know, I've seen much worse," Sijan told Jolley.

The veterinarian said the lump on the animal's back was a large, fluid-filled cyst, not a tumor. The dog's heart rate was a "little slow," the vet said. She suggested they give the animal some time to see if adequate nutrition and some love from the Clemens family turn things around.

They call Hope's situation with the Clemens family a "hospice foster," which Jolley explained means that they won't be spaying or vaccinating Hope. The veterinarian wouldn't guess the dog's age, but said she's "an old lady." Jolley thinks the animal is about 12.

Even if the dog doesn't recover, Hope's last days will be much different than they would have been if the Clemens family hadn't pulled her from the forest, and if Power of the Paw wasn't there to step up and help the family care for her.

Jolley, 21, started rescuing animals in 2011, by running a Facebook page that shared information about dogs in high-kill shelters and coordinating rescues, pulling the animals out and arranging transportation to move them to no-kill rescue groups like the one she's now running with a co-director, Shanna Collison, who lives in Eureka, Mont.

They started Power of the Paw last year.

"We have a couple of foster homes behind us, and we have a lot of supporters who provide donations," Jolley said.

Jolley does most of the work in Kootenai County on her own. Her husband, Brandon, backs her up, she said, but he is employed elsewhere, and doesn't work with her on the rescue efforts. The couple has a 6-month-old baby.

Jolley and her partner are raising the money required to obtain nonprofit 501c3 status, but it's been challenging, because the animals in need come first.

Jolley said they recently pulled some death row dogs from the shelter with the highest kill rate in the nation, in San Bernardino, Calif. The animals all had distemper, and required $6,000 in veterinarian bills, Jolley said.

Power of the Paw doesn't normally rescue animals from California shelters. That was a unique situation.

The organization's focus is on Idaho pets, Jolley said. They pull animals most often from shelters in Idaho Falls and Twin Falls.

Jolley said she got a call last week about some newborn kittens in the area.

"Two of them were thrown up against a wall by a child," Jolley said. "They had some pretty severe internal bleeding."

Before Power of the Paw could get to the kittens, a man in the neighborhood took one of the tiny animals and "put it out of its misery," Jolley said. The other died on its own.

Jolley urges anyone with an injured animal to call a vet or a shelter before taking matters into their own hands, so the animal can be euthanized in a humane manner.

Power of the Paw is always looking for foster homes, and welcomes donations. Caring for Hope since Wednesday has cost the group $275.

Donations can be sent to Power of the Paw, PO Box 1836, Post Falls, Idaho, 83877.

To connect with Autumn and her partner, and see more photos of Hope, visit them on Facebook: www.facebook.com/Power.of.the.Paw.Idaho

You can also find them on the web: powerofthepawid.com