A Dog Was Lured off of the Highway With a Granola Bar

Welcome to Weirdest Thing of the Week, where…well, we point out weird things.

Photo by Sgt. Thomas McMenamon Jr.

Lexi the dog took herself for a walk on Wednesday afternoon.

But instead of sniffing a few trees here and there, the black German shepherd instead decided to trot across three lanes of Interstate 495 in Methuen. That’s when both the Massachusetts State Police and the Methuen Police were called in.

“It was the first time in my career chasing a dog down the highway,” confirmed Sgt. Thomas McMenamon Jr. of the Methuen Police Department.

McMenamon, along with the state police, helped to get the dog to safety. Traffic was temporarily halted while the police used their cars to try to corral the dog.

But Lexi wasn’t going to end her walk early without a little something in return. McMenamon watched as state trooper Malachy Higgins coaxed Lexi into his cruiser by waving a granola bar in her direction. Luckily, she hopped into the car—the driver’s seat first, and then the back seat. But she wasn’t rewarded with the granola bar, as Higgins was afraid Lexi might be allergic to nuts.

“I just wanted to give her the impression that she was going to eat something to get her into the cruiser,” the trooper told the Boston Herald. “We actually gave her some dog food once we got off 
the highway.”

Lexi was then taken to Lawrence Animal Control before heading home safely to her family. According to the Herald, Lexi’s owner, Rose Marchand, hadn’t realized her dog had gone adventuring. She said it isn’t the first time Lexi has gotten loose.

“We do everything we can, we have a fence up and everything but she still manages to find a spot to get out,” Marchand told the Herald.

She apologized to the responders and thanked them for their help.

Have you noticed funky happenings lately? Tell me about them: mbilis@bostonmagazine.com, @madelinebilis.