The hiking party came to rest on a trail locals call the Pipeline.

John Andleman cautioned his children, Ben, 11, and Grace, 8, and their two friends to stay back from the edge of the cliff that dropped 450 feet below them.

On Aug. 24, the warm weather in Hill Canyon on the western edge of Wildwood Park in Thousand Oaks was pleasant. The group included a family friend and the Andleman's dogs, Jackie and Rookie, who drank water after the 20-minute trek.

Jackie, a spunky border collie-retriever mix, isn't one to be led. Jackie had pulled Andleman up the trail.

Sitting on the trail, Ben kept a loose hold on Jackie's leash. But when Grace's friend tossed a rock off the cliff, Jackie took off after it.

"We were standing there in horror watching this," Andleman said. "She didn't see where she was going, and the bottom fell out from under her."

Grace was hysterical. Jackie was her dog, a gift from a teacher after the Santa Rosa Valley family lost its beloved 11-year-old Labrador to cancer.

The group shouted her name, over and over again.

"I heard a painful kind of dog cry and then it stopped," Andleman said. "I figured she was dead."

Sheila Fernandez, a park ranger for the Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency, was on her way to Sunset Hills Park at 5:45 p.m., when her cell phone started to ring. A dog had gone over the cliff.

Fernandez drove to the bottom, and stopped where a crowd, including two Ventura County Sheriff's deputies, had gathered.

She had already radioed park ranger Kevin Smith.

Fernandez looked at the canyon face and saw two women climbing up, searching for Jackie.

"Oh no, we're going to have a human rescue and a dog rescue," Fernandez thought.

Team declined to help

Because of the terrain, its height and risk, and the assumption the dog was dead, the all-volunteer search-and-rescue team had declined to go to the scene.

The Ventura County Fire Department had responded around 6:30 p.m. Personnel were unable to find the dog or the children but stayed at the scene.

Beth Baden has done her share of off-trail hiking. So after getting a call from one of her and the Andleman's neighbors, she arrived in Hill Canyon, dressed in heavy jeans, boots and gloves. She had made her way up the cactus-heavy canyon wall with another of the Andleman's friends.

After pinpointing the location where Jackie had fallen, Baden began to climb down the cliff face. Inching her way back and forth, Baden inspected a patch of brush, and there hiding in the foliage was Jackie.

"She was very quiet and I could see she was pretty injured, so my thought was she needed to get out of there as fast as possible," Baden said.

Jackie was bleeding from the mouth, a bump had formed over her eye, there was a hole in her cheek, her lips and gums were torn and she had bitten her tongue.

Baden tried to free the shocked dog. She rolled onto her back, pulled Jackie on top of her and scooted to a ledge.

Darkness was coming fast.

Smith, Fernandez, veterinarian Dr. Song Chong and family friends joined Baden in the 400-foot climb down the steep, unstable hill. The Ventura County Fire Department provided a giant light.

Bruised and scratched, the rescuers made it to safety.

"It took a good 2, 2 1/2 hours," Baden said.

Jackie was loaded into the back of the Andlemans' truck and driven to Chong's clinic, where the veterinarian took blood samples and X-rays. Jackie hadn't uttered a sound since the 40-foot fall. She had no broken bones and stayed in the clinic overnight.

Liver, kidney problems

In the morning Jackie was alert, but her liver and kidneys weren't working properly. She was taken to a hospital in Ventura, where specialized equipment could detect the problem.

The cost to fix Jackie's torn bladder — $6,000 to $8,000 — was too much. Chong stepped in, offering to operate on the dog in her clinic.

"It's been an amazing recovery," Andleman said. "I couldn't imagine falling that far and getting up and doing something."

At a recent barbecue in her honor, Jackie spent her time playing with tennis balls.

"It brought us all a little closer," Baden said.