Great Story, thanks for sharing. I think almost every dog is capable of surviving without us, we just don't like to admit it.
My husband found a cattle dog while out hunting a few years back. She was along the road in a snowstorm, laying by her mate (who was dead), niether had collars. He brought her home and we put adds in the papers and called local vets/shelters. She was a wonderful dog and was glued to my side the whole time we had her (wierd since my husband was the one who saved her)....but she hated Brutus, our lab and she would attack him if Brutus came within 4 ft of me...we wanted to keep her since no one had claimed her, but it just wasn't going to work with Brutus. We reran the add and someone answered it...they weren't the owner but were looking for a cattle dog so we gave her to them. She was such an obedient dog, but just couldn't accept Brutus, she was very territorial