D2 Powell crew delivers lost dog to owners

The Moscow/Potlatch crew may currently hold the title for Maintenance Crew of the Year, but they might have some competition from the Powell crew, which has demonstrated excellent customer service on two different occasions within the last month.

You might remember a story about efforts to transport a lone traveler’s purse 90 miles up the Lochsa a few weeks ago. It’s tough to beat a story like that—unless it involves a dog.

Richard Baerlocher was driving up US-12 two weeks ago when he pulled over at milepost 139. It’s a common resting area for truck drivers making the trip over Lolo Pass and features an emergency call box.

Baerlocher didn’t see many truckers, but he did see a dog wandering around the pullout. She had no collar, and as they were along a remote section of highway, he was worried she might have been accidentally left behind or even abandoned.

“No way was I going to leave it,” Baerlocher said.

He took the dog up to the Powell bunkhouse. Allen Amundson, who works nights with Baerlocher, enlisted the help of his wife, Darla, to post the dog’s picture to the Facebook page of Zeus’s Friends, an Idaho nonprofit that helps reunite animals with their owners. That post and others from the crews’ personal pages were shared all over, even up in CDA by District 1 permits coordinator Stacy Simpkins.

For the next five days, the day and night crews took turns watching over the dog, who became the mascot of Powell with a noticeable attachment for Baerlocher and an intriguing habit of sleeping under the bed.

D2’s doggy daycare* ended late last week when the owner was found. She and her partner had been traveling from Missoula to Lewiston and didn’t realize that their dog, Annie, had jumped out when they pulled over to use the restroom.

They found the dog through Facebook (the Zeus group). A family member found the post. The couple was in Kamiah (62 miles away) and realized they didn't have the dog. They had been traveling with two dogs, but had just one left in the backseat. The husband did go back to look, but Richard had likely picked it up before then.

The owner insisted on giving the crew $50 for their kind actions.

“She wouldn’t let us say no, so we passed it on to that dog group,” Baerlocher said.

*Doggy daycare providers: Richard Baerlocher, Allen Amundson, Ron Moss, Jim Lockart and Kyle Way.


Published 02-01-19