SAN DIEGO — A local dog evaded cars and capture after he took off full speed ahead on the 163 freeway over the weekend. This could have come to a horrible end. Instead, several officers, some good Samaritans, and one little irresistible Frenchy saved the day.
Balou is a 1.5 year old Chow Chow. He’s recovering at home after his traumatic weekend running loose on the 163. His owner, Linda, says, “He ran out of the house. Just straight out the door. He’s not an outside dog. He’s a house dog. I was like, how did he find his way to the freeway!”
Balou lives with his family in a neighborhood near the zoo. But Saturday he took off and they couldn’t find him. Linda says, “That was the worst experience we’ve ever had. Everyone was telling me- it’s just a dog, it's just a dog. And I was saying- you don’t understand, he’s not just a dog!"
While Linda, her family, and their neighbors were searching everywhere for the Chow, they had no idea officers were shutting down the 163 because of him.
Christine was on the 163 Saturday around noon when traffic stopped. She says, “The cops were driving on the side of the freeway, the other side was closed too. I saw a dog running toward me on the road. I got out of my car and knelt down but the dog ran right passed me. I asked the cop if she wanted me to take my dog Mula out to stop him and she said no, that’s ok.”
She says she saw an officer and others chasing the dog along the freeway. She’s a dog walker and says, “You should never chase a dog when it’s scared. It’s going to keep running so the best thing to do is have the dog come to you.”
Christine ran an errand and when she came back on the 163, Balou was still loose. This time, Christine pulled over. She says, “When I got Mula out of the car, at 1st she looked around and I was like- go Mula, go. Go to the dog. She ran to the dog and he looked at her. I got on my knees and he laid down. I took her leash off, I put it on the dog and we were good to go.”
She adds, “A lot of people really tried to help. It’s always a dangerous situation. You never know how a dog is going to react. It was a group effort at the end of the day. Everyone's always thinking about where they need to go and in that very moment all I wanted to do was stop traffic and get that dog, that's all I really cared about."
Linda is grateful Christine and others took the time to save her family’s dog. She says CHP officers on the scene told her she’ll get a citation in the mail since it took so much manpower and they had to shut down the freeway.
She’s dreading to see how much that will cost her, but she’s relieved to have Balou home.
She says, “I was crying. I was thinking the worst of the worst. I was thinking we were never going to see him again.”
San Diego Humane Society picked up Balou. Thankfully he was microchipped and Linda had all their information ready to prove she was Balou’s owner. Right now San Diego Humane Society is offering microchips for free for the month of October. You just need to schedule an appointment.