Dogs rescued from Dallas roadway median returned to Arkansas owner

Two dogs rescued from a busy Dallas roadway median are back with owners in Arkansas more than 300 miles away after volunteers stopped to help.

How the dogs wound up in the middle of busy Forest Lane near Hillcrest Road Monday afternoon is still a mystery.

One of the volunteers who stopped to protect them was Billy MacLeod.

“The cars were coming fast in both directions so my goal was stopping those dogs from getting out in the street,” MacLeod said.

Other volunteers were already in the median trying to coax the dogs into a car.

Police came to help secure the location with volunteer cars parked alongside the median, blocking center lanes of traffic.

“Ultimately, they gained those dogs' trust and got them in the car,” MacLeod said.

Volunteer Amie Rogers said she went to buy more treats to help lure the dogs and then went along when they were taken to an animal shelter.

There, the volunteers learned the two pit bulls were more than just a couple of stray Dallas dogs.

They had microchips to identify a far-away owner who Rogers spoke with on the phone.

“And I said where do you live? And he said Arkansas. And I was like Arkansas Street? And he said, Little Rock, Arkansas. And I thought holy be-jiminy. How did these dogs get to Dallas? They’d been missing for four weeks. I said I’m going to drive them back,” Rogers said.

So, she and two other volunteers drove to Texarkana Monday evening to meet the dog owner and his son.

There the volunteers learned the younger of the two dogs was in training to be a service dog.

The owner’s home had a fire and the normally indoor dogs had been left outdoors where the owner told the volunteers the dogs had been stolen.

But now the owner and his son are happy to have their dogs back.

“It was just the best story ever because that’s what we’re supposed to do for each other. We’re a community. We’re supposed to help each other, right,” Rogers said.

The owner and the volunteers have no explanation for how dogs wound up in Dallas, but some people had seen them in that Forest Lane neighborhood the day before.

McLeod credits the other volunteers who were on the scene before he drove up, trying to help those dogs.

“All it takes is a little bit of kindness and taking the risk to go out of your way,” MacLeod said. “The ending would have been much different if they would have just kept going.”

The volunteers hope the happy ending for what could have been a tragedy on Forest Lane encourages others to take action if they see helpless animals or people in danger.