HWY 50 and Dogs Don't Mix

I making my 35 mile commute home from work in Emporia Thursday, January 20th at about 4:30 in the afternoon when I spotted 3 large white dogs in in a field on the north side of the highway about 8 miles west of Emporia.  They looked like a pride of lions just sitting there watching the semis drive by.  I assume that most of the other travelers on the highway didn't even see the dogs considering the snowy terrain and the white coats of the dogs.  Being an amateur dog whisperer, I decided to pull over and assess the situation.  As soon as I got out of my car and called to them, the dogs started coming towards me.  The largest one appeared to be a male Great Pyranese, the next largest a male husky mix, and the smallest a female lab mix, but all three had beatutiful long white coats.  Since I speak dog, I said, "Hey guys, what's are you doing out here?  Do you you live around here?" Unfortunately, they didn't have any information for me.  The only possesion these guys had was a small deer carcass that they were enjoying for an afternoon snack, probably scavenged road kill. 

I called my mom to get a phone number for the dog shelter and animal control, but the shelter was closed and the animal control dispatcher had no officer on duty.  She told me they'd been getting reports for the last 3 days about the dogs and, as I was standing there petting the dogs, she told me their animal control officer had tried to catch the dogs, but they were too illusive.  Hah.  Not too illusive for me. 

I decided to try to get the dogs into my car, not knowing exactly what I would do with them even if I did.  Fortunately, from another recent dog excursion, I had a dog collar and leash in my car.  It was very easy to determine that the Pyranese was the leader of the pack and was letting the female eat while keeping the other male away.  I decided to try for the husky mix first.  I got the collar on him, but it was a little large and just as I almost had him in the car, he flopped like a fish and the collar came off. 

About that time, my buddy Brad was passing by on his way home form work and pulled over to see what I was doing.  Brad is not so much an animal guy, and already knows I'm crazy, so it was no big surprise to him that I was trying to help these dogs.  Although not a whole lot of help with the actual animals, Brad was great moral support. There were a couple really exciting moments where the dogs crossed the highway causing a semi to swerve into the other lane barely missing the three dogs.

I successfully put the collar on the largest dog, who probably weighed about as much as me.  He obviously wasn't going to be helpful and jump into the car, so I dragged him up the incline with all my might (my quads are still a little sore) and lifted his front half into the car and then his. back half. We struggled for probably a half hour to get the dogs into my car, but each time we'd try to get a second dog in the car, the first dog would wriggle out. 

I finally decided to give up on the dogs.  Of course their nearness to the highway was still a major concern, but they had thick enough coats not to freeze to death, and they were obviously not going to starve to death, with the deer and all, so I figured I could leave them and still get to sleep that night.

I told Brad it must be really hard to be friends with me, considering all the situations I get myself into, and then when I got back in my car, my battery was dead.  Apparently a combination of 20 degree temperatures and hazard lights had wreaked havoc on my battery.  Of course, neither Brad nor I had jumper cables, nor know how to use them, so I grabbed my phone to call my friend Cody T. who works at a service station.  Rather than actually calling the right person, I accidentally called a student of mine, Cory T.  He was at home with the stomach flu and wasn't thrilled to hear from me. 

Brad and I decided it would be a wise investment for me to just buy some jumper cables and offerred to drive me to Emporia and back, but when I looked for my wallet I realized I had left it at home that morning.  Brad generously offerred to buy the jumper cables, so we headed to Flying J.

At that time, my friend Jillian was on her way home from work and knows how to use jumper cables, so I called her to ask her to stop and help.  Another passerby who happens to be an EMT in Chase County pulled over to make sure we were alright.  I'm sure it looked like we'd had a wreck considering my car was off the road in the grass and there were 3 total vehicles on the scene.  The dogs crossed the highway again while she was there, stopping traffic momentarily.  She radioed the Chase Count Sherriff's Department to tell them about the dogs and to have them come out and check on me.  Ironic, since I had stopped to rescue the dogs and ended up being in need of rescue myself.  She went on her way and I thanked Brad for his help and sent him on his way sure that Jillian and I could work the jumper cables.  We couldn't.  Finally a deputy showed up.  We had the cables hooked up correctly, but he stood there and wiggled the cables while I started the car. 

He told us that the Chase County Sherriff's Department had also been receiving calls about the dogs and that the day before, they had actually been laying ON the highway.  He said the owners had been contacted and would be coming to pick the dogs up.  Neither of us waited to see if that actually happened.  Jillian said she would follow me home just in case, which was good since I had a heck of a time even getting my two-wheel drive car back on to the highway. 

Two hours after pulling over, I was on my way home... again. 

The next day on my way home from work, the dogs were still in the field... eating the deer... watching the traffic, and I got a new battery.