HOSPITALIZED DRIVER YEARS FOR LOST DOG.

Byline: Amy Raisin Staff Writer

VALENCIA - When Rodney Walter II awoke in the intensive care unit Thursday morning, a day after his sport-utility vehicle plunged 500 feet down an embankment, his first concern was for his dog.

On a ventilator and unable to speak after suffering a collapsed lung, the 43-year-old Bakersfield man scribbled the words ``dog'' and ``George'' on a piece of paper from his bed at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital.

Walter's wife said two of the California Highway Patrol officers who had been at the crash scene made a visit to the hospital on Wednesday, then went to the Castaic Animal Shelter in hope of finding George, a 24-pound wire-hair terrier and basset hound mix. The dog is still missing.

``It was the first thing he asked about: Where's George?'' said Walter's wife, Judy. ``The CHP said there was an eyewitness who ... saw a dog running around after the crash, but so far we haven't found him.''

The 6-year-old dog was with Walter, a project engineer for Waste Management, as he drove toward his Santa Clarita office Wednesday morning in his Mercury Mountaineer, traveling south on the Golden State Freeway near Templin Highway.

Shortly after 11 a.m. a driver lost control of his compact car and hit Walter's blue SUV, causing it to jump a guard rail and topple end-over-end about 500 feet before landing on its roof.

Walter was airlifted to Newhall Memorial, where he is being treated for a bruised lung, broken ribs and other injuries.

``The officers have been so great,'' Judy Walter said Thursday from the hospital. ``They definitely realize how important it is to Rodney and me to find our dog. He's like our baby. I just hope someone who has seen him reads this.''

She said George was wearing a multicolored nylon collar and an identification tag with phone numbers for the Walters and for a pet-tracking company.

Anyone with information about George is asked call the CHP Newhall station at [phone].

Amy Raisin, [phone]

amy.raisin(at)dailynews.com

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George, a 24-pound terrier-basset hound mix, vanished from a crash scene by the Golden State Freeway near Templin Highway. His injured owner scribbled ``George'' in the hospital.