Everyone thought the dog, named "Gunner", had been thrown from the pick-up in that head-on crash on I-90 near Issaquah Thursday.

But he was right under their noses all along.

Denise Brusco got to see her dog Gunner for the first time since her husband, Anthony, and the family's three dogs were in a terrible crash I-90.

Denise is grateful to everyone at the Alpine Animal Hospital, now helping Gunner recover.

"They're doing everything they possibly can and we appreciate that," Denise Brusco said.

Gunner had spent the last 24 hours trapped in the wreckage of his truck. Anthony Brusco was driving on I-90 early Thursday morning when another driver going the wrong way hit him head on.

Firefighters rescued Anthony from the wreckage, along with two of his dogs.

But there was no sign of Gunner.

But Friday morning, family friend Don went to Clark's Towing to try to salvage some of their belongings from the truck -- but found something much more important.

He found Gunner.

"I heard him whimpering, and I could just barely make out an eye and a furry head," Larson said. "It was really comforting to see him conscious and not really hurt too bad."

The State Patrol says they thought Gunner had been thrown from the crash. And after rescuing Anthony Brusco, they searched in the brush near the accident.

"We looked for it at the scene at the time," said trooper Kelly Spangler. "I know I spent a half hour out there, I know another trooper that spent four hours out there."

But the poor little dog was hunkered down way back underneath some sleeping bags and dog beds.

"I wasn't surprised to find the dog back there," Larson said. "I didn't expect to, but given the amount of stuff in the back of the truck, it was easy to see how he may have been overlooked. I had probably gone through the back of the truck for five minutes before I heard him."

As for Denise, she's just glad that everyone in her family is OK -- those with two legs and four legs.

"I'm so thankful that they're all alive," she said. "I'm very thankful."

Anthony Brusco suffered a broken arm and heel in the crash and is recovering at Harborview Medical Center. The other driver, Jesse Alan Christensen, 29, of Bellevue, was killed; he had been driving the wrong way on the highway's eastbound lanes.

The State Patrol is investigating why Christensen was driving into oncoming traffic.