The tempting smell of a pork chop just might have saved a dog's life.

Trapped in a hole covered with 1,000-pound boulders near the Lake of the Pines wastewater treatment plant for nearly three days, an Australian shepherd was coaxed to safety with the help of a plucky backhoe driver's lunch.

Workers for the Nevada County Department of Transportation and Sanitation were collecting wastewater samples Tuesday at the treatment plant on Riata Way when they heard canine cries for help inside a drainage ditch within the 105-acre facility along Magnolia Creek.

No one knows exactly how the pudgy pup got lodged inside the hole, though workers from the Department of Transportation and Sanitation and the Higgins Fire Department, which was initially called to extricate the dog, suspect the canine might have been chasing a small bobcat in the area.

The dog apparently slipped through a hole in one of two fences before getting stuck.

Wastewater plant supervisor Don Corbett said tracking the dog, whom rescuers named Rockie, proved difficult. Every time workers called her, she'd stop barking.

They tried for two days, with no luck. By the time Nevada County Animal Control showed up just after noon Thursday, the dog was still whimpering in its hole, only the twinkling of its light eyes visible to the crowd assembled around the boulders and blackberry bushes.

At first, Department of Sanitation workers tried to dislodge boulders with a small backhoe, to no avail. Heavier earth movers and hydraulic jacks were summoned from the county's corporation yard, and only then were workers able to produce rolling stones.

"I was just hoping to hell one of those boulders wouldn't squish her," said Higgins Fire Capt. Wendy Stuller, who witnessed the rescue Thursday evening. "That would have broken everyone's heart."

The earth-moving continued in earnest, as backhoe driver C.J. Rist prodded and pushed the boulders from the six-inch crack in the ground. The dog, apparently traumatized from the entire ordeal, whimpered still, unwilling to budge from her spot.

It wasn't until Rist proffered up a pork chop - lowered into the six-foot-deep hole on a string by the firefighters - that the pooch popped up.

"She was very much in distress," said Animal Control officer Arlene Winstead. "She didn't stop crying until we got her out."

The pork chop and a cup of water fashioned out of a Gatorade bottle seemingly brought Rockie to life.

"It was obvious she was grateful for being rescued," Stuller said. "For someone to be pinned for 48 hours, she was in good spirits."

Rist offered Rockie two cans of sardines once the dog saw daylight.

"We couldn't believe she was able to walk after she got out," Animal Control officer Bruce Baggett said. "She seemed happy to get out and smart enough to recognize people were there to help her."

Animal Control officers gave Rockie a bath and a warm bunk at the county shelter on McCourtney Road, where the dog was resting Friday afternoon.

Rockie was found with no collar or tags, and workers aren't sure who her owner is.

Those with information about the dog can call the Nevada County Animal Shelter at 273-2179. The shelter is located at 14647 McCourtney Road.

"Those guys who saved her," said Baggett, referring to the firefighters who helped Rockie, "have really big hearts."