Its the call I never want to get.
“I saw a dog on the side of the highway and no one else we called will help us,” the girl on the line said. “I think she just had puppies too!”
Rescuing a dog from the side of the highway can be scary. My stomach drops just thinking about it. The last thing anyone wants to see is a dog get hit by a car. Yet if the dog is in flight mode, just seeing a rescuer may make it sprint into traffic. Rescuing a dog off the highway requires nerves of steel. And I must admit, these days I don’t always have them. The fact that there may be puppies just made the situation worse.
So when I got the call, I decided to first go out and take a look at the dog. Get a feel for the situation. There was a chance that the dog would be okay and come right to me. Though I knew this was rare. I still had hope.
A co-worker of the girl who called me took me out to see the dog. His name was Joe. We drove on the Belt Parkway East till right before exit 25b. We parked on the side of the highway and started to backtrack a little bit along the shoulder inside the guardrail.
Then a little white pit mix with cropped ears and a patch over her eye came charging out of the woods at us, barking ferociously. I took several steps back stunned. The dog stopped and kept barking. There were trays of foods and cartons of water. Joe had been feeding her a couple of days to try and gain the dogs trust.
“See? Doesn’t she look like she is nursing?” he said.
I couldn’t tell for sure, but it looked more like the dog was pregnant to me. “We’ll find out once we get her.” I said
But we couldn’t get her. We stayed on the side of the highway for an hour. We didn’t approach her too much. We didn’t make direct eye contact but stayed and put out food and acted natural, talking and hoping that she would come to us. She came a bit closer when we tossed her tasty dried chicken treats but not close enough to leash her or pet her. If we tried to get closer to her, she would come at us barking aggressively. If we ignored her, she would retreat into a thorny bush which was where I guess she was living. Also if there were puppies they probably were in there but we couldn’t get close enough to tell. I could see a dirty swampy streams beyond the trees where she drank some water. I cringed thinking of parasites. This dog needed to get out of here fast.
The good thing was that she was afraid of the cars and never ventured too close to the highway and always stayed inside the guardrail. So when it started to get dark I felt as comfortable as one could possibly leaving a dog on the side of the highway till tomorrow morning when I could either come back with a trap or someone to help me.
When I got back to the shelter that night I was telling the staff and volunteers about the dog and one volunteer, a dog trainer named Dennis, didn’t hesitate to volunteer to come with me tomorrow to try and get the dog off the highway. I couldn’t have chosen a better rescue partner!
Dennis is calm, assertive and has experience getting dogs on the street to come to him. On the way there the next day, he said this would be his first highway rescue, yet he seemed ready for it. I was already nervous, my heart pounding. I had seen a dog get hit by a car more than once and the images have never left me.
I told Dennis everything I knew about the dog. She was either pregnant or nursing and she came charging out at you when you approach her hiding spot on the highway. We were as prepared as we could have been. At least that is what I thought.
But when we got there, the dog didn’t come charging at us. It was eerily quiet and I began to worry that something happened to her. We ventured closer to the bush I saw her run into yesterday and that’s when I saw her. She was lying on her side, her eyes closed. My heart dropped. I should have come back sooner, I thought.
“I think she’s dead,” I whispered.
But dead she was not. As soon as I said it, she sprang to her feet and came charging full speed at us, barking loudly and she came even closer than yesterday, even more aggressive. We took a couple of steps back and then the games began.
We were on the highway three hours trying to get the dog. We started out by not making eye contact and just acting natural. We didn’t wanted to remove the idea that we were a threat. Ha, not so easy!
If the dog retreated and we took a step, she would come charging again. Then Dennis had the idea to be bolder and walk towards the dog. She backed up into her bush which as we got closer we discovered was a thorn bush. As we got closer to the dog, we saw scratches all over her body.
She let Dennis get closer than she would let me. I have to admit, he was certainly much braver than I was! I began wishing we had rented a humane trap to get her. It was about two hours later, the heat was starting to take its toll on me. We were in the woods now, on the other side of the thorn bush and the dog had taken some treats from Dennis. As soon as we thought we were making progress she would become aggressive again. I was afraid to make any sudden movements.
Dennis was trying to get a lasso leash around her neck when a tow truck came and tried to tow his car. We ran out of the woods to prevent another rescue from happening- someone having to come rescue us from being stranded on the side of the highway.
As we ran towards the car and away from the dog, I glanced over my shoulder and saw her staring at us longingly from the side of the road. She thought we were abandoning the mission… and she looked really sad. Forlorn.
When we told the tow truck driver what we were up to, he got a big smile on his face. “That is really a great thing!” he said. He told us how he tried to get a dog off the highway once and how its great to see people who care about the animals. He told us good luck. He gave us a card to put in the window of the car so other trucks would know to leave the car. It was a much needed morale boost as I was starting to feel drained and I wasn’t even doing the majority of the work!
We sat down on the guard rail for a moment. “Do you think we should come back when we are more prepared?” I asked Dennis.
“What do you mean?”
“Maybe we should just get a humane trap and come back later today.”
“I can’t leave her here,” Dennis said. He was persistant. He didn’t want to give up.
“What about when we get her on a leash? There is a chance she will be okay but what if she is still aggressive? How are we going to put her in the car and drive?”
We couldn’t think of an answer for that. The dog didn’t even have a collar on. She could slip out of a lasso type leash if it loosened. If she was aggressive there was nothing to stop her from coming at us in the front seat. I was worried but Dennis remained calm. He went back to the thorn bush where the dog wa s hiding. Dennis seemed more determined than ever and the dog seemed more determined not to be caught than ever.
Then it happened. We were standing in the cakey mud, bitten all over by mosquitos, covered in sweat and dirt, exhausted and somehow Dennis managed to get close enough to the dog and before she charged, he slipped the leash over her head and pulled it taut in an instant!
The dog tried desperately to escape at first but then settled down when she realized it was useless. She didn’t charge at Dennis, she wasn’t aggressive. She seemed more scared than anything now. Her tail was between her legs.
I felt like running up and giving Dennis a big hug but it wasn’t over yet. I felt a little bit relieved but I knew we still had to get her in the car and back to the shelter. This could be equally as challenging!
He slowly tried to bring the dog over to the car. The dog was resisting being led on the leash a lot. She just dug her paws into the ground and was hard to move. Once she got to the car, she made no indication that she would like to get inside. Not even for food or treats. She was letting Dennis pet her head but he was hesitant to pick her up. She kept looking back at the thorn bush.
“Do you think she is looking back for her puppies?” Dennis asked.
I thought we would have seen puppies by now if there were some. We were out there for hours. We both thought she looked pregnant but I went back to the thorn bush and looked thoroughly around the area while he held the dog by the car.
When I returned he still hadn’t been able to interest the dog into getting in the car. I called the shelter and asked if we could borrow a crate from the vet and told them we needed someone to bring it out to us on the highway. They were all excited we got the dog and said Mike, one of our staff, would be on his way.
We waited on the side of the road. Another two truck slowed down. We told him we just rescued the dog and he gave us the thumbs up sign and smiled. A policeman stopped and asked if we needed help. We told him the story and how we were just waiting for a crate to bring her back to the shelter. He smiled and told us to wait on the other side of the car to be safe. I was happy and surprised at how everyone was supporting our efforts! It was a good feeling.
I was still a little nervous sitting there on the side of the highway with the dog only in a slip leash. But it wasn’t long before Mike arrived with the crate. She accepted his presence without any commotion. He set the crate down by the dog. She didn’t want to go in the crate at first but she allowed Dennis to gently lead her in. We put some treats in her and then double checked it was locked correctly. We lifted the crate in the back of Dennis’ car and shut the door. The dog seemed more relaxed than ever.
That is when I truly began to relax! She was truly safe now! Whew! I felt like the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders.
The ride back to the shelter was like floating on a cloud. When we got there, the rest of the staff came out to greet us and meet the dog. She was a little shy when we took her out of the crate but never aggressive. She was gentle, allowed everyone to pet her.
“What are we going to name her?” I asked Dennis.
“How about Sadie?” And then Sadie it was!
Denise, one of the staff, made a cozy bed for Sadie in one of the cages. We all agreed she was pregnant. I would take her to the vet in the morning for a check up.
When Sadie was led to her cage she immediately got on her bed and crawled up. She looked so relieved! It was the greatest feeling in the world to see her so comfortable and relaxed, especially after seeing the mucky swampy thorn bush she was living in only an hour before!
Sadie safe in her bed at the shelter
The next day Sadie met the rest of the staff and she was sweet and gentle with them all. She gave us no problems with other dogs. She just seemed grateful to be rescued. The staff gave her a bath. I took her to the vet who told me she would give birth in a week or two.
Sure enough, one week later she had six beautiful puppies! There is one male and five females and they all look like mini Sadies! I must say Sadie is a very good mommy. She is always focused onher puppies. When she leaves the cage to go to the bathroom she doesn’t want to stay out, she wants to go right back to her puppies.
I am so grateful to everyone who helped rescue Sadie and her puppies. If we weren’t able to get her off the highway she would have had her puppies there. I hate to even think about what would happen to them. Sadies rescue was made possible by a group of caring individuals. From Joe who first spotted her and fed her, to his co-worker who got in touch with us, to Mike who brought the crate and Denise and the rest of the staff who welcomed Sadie and take such good care of her and the pups on a daily basis and most of all to Dennis who simply would not give up till Sadie was safe and sound. Thank you!
Sadie's puppies, only a couple of days old
