On Friday, one of our School Resource Officers (SRO) was notified that four dogs were running loose at Spanaway Middle School. Since Animal Control officers weren’t on duty yet, she sprung into action. When she arrived at the school, three of the four doggos were corralled in the principal’s office.
Our veteran deputies will tell you that you have to keep leashes and treats in your patrol car because you never know what any given call will bring you. The SRO grabbed a few leashes from her car and put the dogs in the backseat.
Once Animal Control arrived, they scanned all the puppers. The lab, Ruger, had a microchip with up-to-date information, so they contacted his parents right away. The SRO and Animal Control officers took Ruger and his siblings home and were shocked to see what they had escaped from. The fence was 8 to 9 feet tall and had multiple latches to secure the gate. Everyone was stumped as to how the dogs escaped… until they watched the dogs work together to unlock the various latches. The owners immediately took a trip to the hardware store to search for additional security options. Talk about escape artists!
A couple weeks ago, on Feb. 29, a Husky let himself into Cedarcrest Middle School and led staff on a bit of a foot pursuit. The same SRO from the previous incident wrangled up the spunky puppy and launched her investigation. The Husky didn’t have a collar, so she took to social media.
She found a Facebook post from two years ago (that matched the Husky in question) where a woman commented that the dog in the post was her brothers. Her Facebook profile was private and the SRO couldn’t locate any contact info for her in our databases. She took a shot in the dark and searched for her in the school database. It worked! The woman was a former student and there was a phone number on file. The SRO called her up and, long story short, they confirmed the dog belonged to the woman’s brother and they were happily reunited.
Think that’s where the story ends? Of course not! During the same week that the Husky broke into Cedarcrest, a German Shepherd was caught inside Keithly Middle School.
