'True Lassie': Dog Leads Rescuers To CA Hiker Hurt In 70-Foot Fall

NEVADA CITY, CA — A California hiker's dog is being compared to Lassie after he helped lead rescuers to his owner, who was hurt in a 70-foot fall near Tahoe National Forest.

The Nevada County Sheriff's Search and Rescue team was called around noon Wednesday, July 13, after a 53-year-old man fell, breaking his hip and ribs.

More than two dozen rescuers scoured the forest for the man. After about seven hours, they found a black Border collie. The dog repeatedly jumped and spun in circles, then ran 20 feet ahead and looked back, as if to say "follow me," The New York Times reported.

“Hey, I think this dog is trying to lead us somewhere,” Sgt. Dennis Haack of the sheriff’s office recalled a volunteer saying over radio. “So we’re going to follow him.”

They followed the dog about 200 yards and found the man.

The "true credit" for the rescue, the searchers said, goes to Saul, the hiker's "Border Collie that ran through the forest approximately 200 yards and in true 'LASSIE' fashion to flag down two searchers and led them back to the subject which was covered in a camo tarp."

"At first we didn't believe it because it sounded like a movie," Haack told KCRA. "When they came back and actually described it to us, the reality was that they had followed the dog directly to the victim."

Rescuers packaged the hiker and moved him to a landing zone a half-mile away. A helicopter then flew him to a hospital a few miles away. He was expected to survive his injuries.