With a broken leg and collarbone, Dave Stanton was in no condition to look for his dog before being rushed to the hospital.

His beloved canine, Jenny, was ejected from the vehicle when his 2001 T800 Kenworth logging truck wrecked just south of Coeur d'Alene on U.S. 95 on March 29, spilling 80,000 pounds of logs onto the roadway.

"She went 300 feet out the front window when I crashed," Stanton said Thursday in a phone interview with The Press.

Jenny disappeared, and soon Stanton was being whisked away by emergency responders.

"No one could find her," he said. "A whole bunch of people went looking for her."

Helpless and immobile, Stanton worried about his 7-year-old border collie mix. He just hoped she survived.

"She is my best friend," he said. "She's ridden with me in the truck since I got her. I've had her five years."

That evening, Idaho Department of Corrections Officer Megan Bjerke drove by and noticed a small animal lingering at the crash site, near milepost 420 on the northbound side.

"It was a random thing. I had worked later than I planned on. I was driving home and I saw something on the side of the road," she said. "I was like, 'Oh my God, I think that was a dog.'"

An animal lover, Bjerke immediately turned her car around to check. A few other drivers followed suit.

"I sat in the dirt and coaxed her and she finally came over to me," Bjerke said. "You could tell she was exhausted. She was shivering."

Bjerke and the other good Samaritans convinced the frightened dog to get into Bjerke's car. Bjerke took Jenny to Emergency Pet Care in Post Falls, where she knows the veterinarian.

"Of all the people who passed her, for someone who knew an emergency vet, it was literally the stars aligned," Bjerke said. "It was perfect."

Aside from being scared and having a dislocated hip, Jenny was OK. Soon, Stanton received the good news.

"My sister brought her back," Stanton said. "I was happier than hell. I was like, 'Cool, my little buddy made it.'"

It took a few days to reunite Stanton with Jenny, whose full name is Jenny Magoo Sasquatch Hunting Dog.

"I think she thought I was gone. She didn't eat until they brought her to me," he said. "Things changed after that. Boy, she was happy."

Together again, Stanton and Jenny are recovering at Stanton's sister's home in Lewiston. He has physical therapy two days a week, and Jenny's hip is healing.

"I'm really glad she got back to him and that they're OK," Bjerke said.

Stanton said he wants to thank everyone who rescued him. He said he is especially grateful to the responding fire teams — Coeur d'Alene, Worley and Mica Kidd Island — who swiftly cut him from the wreckage and took great care of him.

"The fire people and the ambulance people, all those guys are cool and good," he said. "That crew should get a high five big time. They’re awesome. Their crew kicked butt."

He and Jenny also send their gratitude to the kind citizens who cared enough to wrangle a scared dog and return her to her owner.

"I want to say thank you for helping out,” he said. "You guys got awesome people up there."