The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A dog ran a mile to her doggy day care for help
Labrador retriever mix sought safe place after she was in car accident.
Melissa Fickel was driving to a park near Detroit with her dog, Aries, when another car hit her from behind as the stoplight turned green.
To her shock, Aries got spooked and jumped out of the open rear window.
“I was surprised when she jumped out because she’d never done anything like that before,” said Fickel, 31, recalling the afternoon of Feb. 24.
Fickel, who said nobody was injured in the accident, quickly looked around for Aries and was relieved to see her sitting on the side of busy Rochester Road in Clawson, Michigan.
“As soon as she saw me, she turned and took off,” Fickel said. “I was in the middle of the road, and I couldn’t run after her.”
Fickel called out to Aries, but she kept running and was soon out of sight.
Fickel pulled over her car, and did a quick search around some buildings where she had last caught sight of her 4-yearold, pit bull/Labrador mix pup.
Then police showed up, and she told an officer her dog ran off.
“I couldn’t find her, and I had to deal with talking to police and my insurance company, so I decided to take it one step at time,” she said.
The officer phoned in a description to a dispatcher so other officers could look for Aries, she said.
Then, about 20 minutes after the accident, Fickel received a text and a call from Travis Ogden, the owner of the doggy day care that Aries goes to once a week.
Ogden gave Fickel some stunning news: Aries was with him at the doggy day care, one mile up the road.
“I started crying,” said Fickel. Ogden said a staffer in the front office had noticed the dog pacing and jumping up and down outside the front glass door.
“She’d run straight to her safe spot and was trying to attract their attention,” Fickel said.
Ogden said he let Aries inside, and the pooch ran over to him and licked his face.
“I love that dog and knew immediately it was her,” he said, noting that Aries has been a regular at Hounds Town for about three years. “She’s a really social dog who is always ready to play.”
He was puzzled to see Aries without Fickel, but when he learned about the accident, it started to make sense, he said.
Studies have shown that dogs have extraordinary sensory abilities that could allow them to pick up on the north-south flow of the planet’s magnetic field. Stories about dogs that have gone missing and found their way home suggest they have an internal compass.
Ogden said Aries probably fled the accident scene out of fear, hoping to get somewhere where she could feel calm and safe.
Aries was given some water after her sprint, and staffers played with her in the lobby until Fickel could pick her up.