Bonners Ferry Local Guide including all of Boundary County Idaho

Dog had been missing for five weeks after owner involved in crash

Thursday, February 15, 2007; DB

Valerie must have been terrified. All of the car's windows shattered around her and she probably tumbled around inside the vehicle after it slid across four lanes on Highway 95, struck the merge sign near Woods Meats and rolled. The accident would be the beginning of a five-week search by her owner for Valerie, a border-collie and golden retriever mix dog. "There were citizens everywhere looking for her," said her owner, Darlene Widdifield. When emergency crews loaded her in an ambulance on Thursday Jan. 4, Widdifield was reassured someone had caught the dog that she rescued from a ditch on Valentine's Day seven years earlier. "I would not have left her if they didn't tell me they had her," she said. Instead, the dog eluded capture and ran loose along Highway 95. Widdifield, the activities director for Boundary Community Hospital in Bonners Ferry, was headed to Sandpoint for a doctor's appointment. It was a sunny day. The Boundary County resident had brought Valerie with her as she usually does. The dog is a regular at the hospital, making the trip several times a week to visit with patients and nursing home residents. "There's a lot of people's lives that she touches," Widdifield said. When the log truck traveling in front of her began to slide after another vehicle ahead of it started sliding, Widdifield swerved and slid across the highway. After her car rolled, Widdifield hung upside down in her car, suspended by the seatbelt. Widdifield had sustained cuts on her hands, and bruised shoulder from the seatbelt. Her vehicle was totaled. "Seriously, the seatbelt saved me," she said. - Full Story