The Day the Dogs Were Arrested & Went to Jail
Written by Rawevil
When we were approached about writing an article for the WGA newsletter our first thought was, “who, us?” And being so close to the holidays of course ours minds drifted off into a parody of “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” with visions of geocaches dancing in our heads. So many topics and so much to say, how do we narrow it down and focus on one thing or experience? Well, here’s one geocaching experience we will never forget.
For whatever reason, while caching, we have a tendency to attract dogs. Whether it’s a dog being walked by its owner, a dog from a neighboring yard that just wants to say hi, or strays. In the Fall of 2013, while we were just starting our caching adventures, we experienced WI-pattymel’s Lost Arrows and Dry Turkeys. We took a certain affinity to these cache hides and set out on the Northwest Trail in Ripon. We were looking forward to adding to our D/T grid because there were a few on this trail. While walking the trail, we approached an area that intersected with a major road. After waiting for the traffic to clear, we hustled to the other side just in time to meet a jogger and his two dogs, a silver and gold lab, headed the opposite direction. We were a little concerned that he didn’t have his dogs on leashes while crossing the road. We exchanged pleasantries with the jogger only to have the dogs turn around and follow us. After getting the jogger’s attention we learned that those weren’t his dogs and they had been jogging with him for the past few miles. We tried calling the number on one of the dog’s collars only to be disappointed with a disconnected number. So we continued on our way down the trail with our newly adopted trail guests.
When we arrived at “Dry Turkey Northwest Trail” (GC35AWV) the dogs were getting underfoot and wouldn’t allow us to search without needing head and belly rubs. What to do? After giving the two cache busters some water, we took another look at their collars and found the phone number for the Ripon Veterinary Clinic. It was after hours on a Saturday so we had to leave a message. We were also hoping that our new geo-pooches lived somewhere near the trail and would wagon train their way back home. No luck today however.
As we neared the next intersection with no caches to be found since attempting the Dry Turkey, our phone rang and showed an unidentified number from the area. It was the after hours call center from the vet’s office. We explained our situation and they too tried to contact the owners to no avail. We asked what we were supposed to do with the dogs and the person told us that we should take them home and bring them in on Monday. What?!? Our car was full of trick-or-treat candy and not suitable to transport two strange dogs from Ripon to Oshkosh. Now what do we do? Don’t get us wrong, they were great dogs and we would love to have such faithful companions. So we did the only thing left we could, we called the Ripon Police Department. However, since we were in the town of Ripon and not the city of Ripon there was nothing they could do either.
In desperation, one of us stayed with the dogs and the other started going to houses on the nearby road but there was no one home. We made our way back to the trail crossing and while shaking our heads we noticed a man walking his poodle heading our way. At the same time we heard a vehicle approaching from the opposite direction. It was a police cruiser and a police SUV headed right towards us with lights flashing. Hooray, relief was on its way!
Well, needless to say, the dogs were arrested and jailed. CHARGE: Illegally Adopting Geocachers. But just in the nick of time before the sentence was handed down, Officer Trevor Hanke of the Ripon Police Department arrived and posted their bail so he could release them into their rightful owner’s custody.
Now, back to that Dry Turkey we were trying to find earlier . . .