Catching Cars

Here’s the next in the “Sunday Story Series” on Our America. No politics today, just another “tail” about dogs.

Lost Pet Recovery

There is an old political adage, explaining the problems of success:  “It’s like the dog who caught the car”.  The premise is that dogs chase cars, but if they were actually successful and caught one, they wouldn’t know what to do.  Today’s story  answers that question:  what really happens when a dog catches a car?

A lot of the dog stories in “Our America” come from our work with Lost Pet Recovery (LPR), a group of intrepid volunteers who find lost dogs and return them to their owners.  LPR gets requests for help from all over Ohio, Kentucky and even beyond.  Sometimes, we are able to “talk” folks through getting their own dogs back. Often, we supply equipment to help them out.  And sometimes, we go out ourselves to recover the dog, and return it to the owners.

So last weekend we were on a trip to “scout out” a husky mix that was a “hard case”, out in Preble County. Where’s Preble County?  It’s the last county before the Indiana border, starting just west of Dayton, Ohio, and reaching through the flat farmlands towards Richmond, Indiana.  In fact, the quickest way to the Husky’s last known Ohio location was to enter Indiana, turn off the interstate onto a state highway, then onto a local county road that recrossed the border.  

Easy Stuff

The “dog” folks in Preble already tried the “easy” stuff.  A box trap was placed near where the Husky was sheltering, and they hoped she would be drawn in by the “good smelling” bait.  But instead of attracting the dog, she went on a long “walk-a-bout”, over fifteen miles before returning to her original location.  The trap scared her off, so that technique was scratched off the list.

She was hanging out in a dairy barn, eating cow feed and cow remains.  And she found a soul-mate, the local farm dog that lived there.  They clearly were in a friendly relationship, so much so that any attempt to retrieve the Husky had to take into account what to do with the local dog.  Here’s how we know.

We were driving down the narrow country lane, just after crossing back into Ohio, checking out the “lay of the land”.  We passed the farmhouse where the dairy farmer and his family lived, then turned around in the next driveway to come back and look for the Husky.  Meanwhile ‘Ol Farm Dog determined that our truck, with a six-foot trap in the back, was a threat, if not to him and his family, definitely to his “friend” the Husky.  

THIS IS MY ROAD

We pulled back by the farm, and Ol’ Farm Dog came out on the road to greet us.  We went past the farm house, then turned around again in the dairy barn driveway.  This time it was “Mr. This is My Road”, and he was having none of it.  

He stood in the middle of the road, barking boldly at our offending vehicle.  When I tried to back up, Farm Dog followed along, right by the front bumper.  When I tried to turn to the side, he circled around to keep us centered in the road.  Then, when we lowered the windows to try to cajole him, he approached the door.  ‘Ol Farm Dog didn’t seem very “friendly”.  

The two young kids who live in the house just stood in the front yard watching the show.  We certainly weren’t the first car their dog had “caught”, and I expect they were enjoying our inept maneuvering.   I lowered the window (just enough) to give them a yell:  “Hey kid, could you come get your dog?”.  One responded “Just drive forward”.  

We were in a pickup truck, and the dog was so close to the front bumper that he was beneath our view.  I wasn’t moving forward:  how would it look if the LPR “Team” ran over a farm dog while trying to catch a lost dog?  I’d definitely lose my Lost Pet Recovery “membership card”, and besides, I don’t run over dogs.  So I inched forward. He barked even more furiously. ‘Ol Farm Dog wasn’t going to move.

Caught

He had us.  He caught the truck.  And he knew exactly what he was going to do.  Ol’ Farm Dog was going to keep us, right there, in front of the farmhouse, for as long as he damned well wanted to.

It was ironic and kind of funny.  Instead of trapping dogs, our LPR team was trapped.  But Don, the “boss” in the back seat wasn’t amused. He was furious, not with me (the driver), and not even with the dog.  He was furious that the farm owners would let their dog wander on the country lane, trying to catch cars.  And it wasn’t because it was interfering with our scouting.  There is only one inevitable result for a dog fixated on catching cars, trucks, and other vehicles.  In the end, one of those will catch him; another “farm dog” lost.  And our “Boss” didn’t think that was so funny.

I yelled at the kid again, “Come on, Man, come get your dog!”.  The older brother gestured to his younger sibling, and the kid meandered over to the road, jumping in front of the truck to chase his dog into the field.  He then hollered at us “Get Going!”.  The vaunted “LPR Team” now taking orders from a ten year-old.  

I pulled ahead, slowly.  I was trying to avoid flattening old farm dogs and young children.  Then Don said, “You better get going”.  He, ‘Ol Farm Dog, was racing across the field, a desperate move to keep ahead of us.  He didn’t want to lose his “catch”. 

Back Way Home

I punched it, and once we passed forty, the farm dog was left behind.  We spent the rest of the day trying to “spy out” the Husky, without success.  

Hours later, the quickest way back home was to take the county road to the highway, to the interstate in Indiana back to Ohio.  But I refused to go that way.  No more Mr. This Is My Road!!  I charted a course along the county roads, meandering our way across Ohio farmlands and through small towns until finally we got to the interstate.  More miles, more time, but anything was better than getting caught by an old farm dog again. 

Postscript 1:  The Husky is still at the farm.  The farmer’s wife has one of our trail cams in the dairy barn, and we know she’s there.  A team is headed back out soon.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Postscript 2:  Finding and returning lost dogs isn’t cheap.  LPR is a volunteer organization (and a 501-C3 charity). We’ve found thousands of lost dogs.  Most went back to their owners, but some are strays that end up in our rescue. If you’d like to help financially – we welcome donations.  That’s how we keep going. Here’s how to support LPR:

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Author: Marty Dahlman

I'm Marty Dahlman. After forty years of teaching and coaching track and cross country, I've finally retired!!! I've also spent a lot of time in politics, working campaigns from local school elections to Presidential campaigns.

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