Dogs jump into vehicle at car wash

A Celina couple had a close and definitely unwanted encounter with a pair of boxers at the St. Henry car wash Monday afternoon.

Kennith Wilcox, 710 Devonshire Drive, Apt. 11, and his girlfriend, Kyrinana Chrisman, had been on an outing when his niece, Lydia Marie Wilcox, spilled a soft drink all over the floor.

"We pulled into the car wash to suck it up," he says. "I don't know where those dogs came from ... probably somebody's yard."

The canines apparently took the open front doors as an invitation to hop aboard as the couple was getting change. The 3-year-old stared in amazement from the back seat as the female dog stepped around the steering wheel and plopped onto the passenger seat. The male, reportedly wearing a "Harley" collar, quickly followed suit.

"Lydia didn't seem to mind one bit until I started hollering," Wilcox says. "One push and the girl dog hopped out. The boy kinda got his dander up growling a bit as I pushed. I meant business and he finally got out."

The doggie duo had taken refuge along nearby buildings, when St. Henry Police Chief Bob Garman arrived on the scene, according to Patrolman Pat Elking.

"Bob opened the cruiser doors and they hopped in just as nice as you please," he said trying to stifle a chuckle. "Apparently all those boxers wanted was a ride and they got it - to our animal impound area to await their owners."

Elking this morning said the owner has claimed the dogs.

St. Henry has been the scene of some unusual animal-related incidents in the past, including a nomadic camel that led officers on a merry chase after it bolted from a live Nativity scene on the church grounds and a steer that escaped from a pen at a local meat processing plant. Freedom proved short-lived for the steer that wound up packaged as steaks, roasts, stew meat and hamburger.

"Things do tend to happen over here," Elking said. "Fortunately, this ended on a happy note like the other ones."