Moon, who is nearly 2 years old, was no worse for wear, except for stinking as if a skunk might have sprayed her.

"I've had trouble with her running away before. She's always come home," Dashiell said. But this time, he didn't really expect her to show up after a week had passed.

"After seven days -- no way," he told the Ely Times.

Dashiell had taken his three dogs on a weekend trip to Tonopah. When he let them out of his truck near Railroad Valley, Moon took off when a catch on her chain let go, and she bolted into the sagebrush.

Dashiell searched for several hours before giving up and heading home. The last he saw her, she was headed northwest toward the Duckwater Shoshone Reservation. He called the tribal police, but they turned up no trace of Moon.

On April 14, the White Pine Veterinary Clinic telephoned Dashiell to let him know that Moon was back in town. She had wandered up to an Ely residence, where Alvin Molea took her home and fed her.

Molea said he called the clinic because the dog was wearing a clinic tag.