SoCal News is Going to the Dogs

Dog Chase on the 710: Live on NBC News! Southern California, the land of cars and freeways, is notorious for high speed chases. They became a ritual on the noon and evening news. The pit maneuver and spike strips are part of the SoCal lexicon. Alas, the high speed chase is trite and mundane. The thrill is gone. The news stopped broadcasting the chases, unless something different was involved, such as a dump truck. NBC4 in LA devoted much of the 6:00pm news Thursday to a dog chase on the 710 through Bell. A Channel 4 helicopter broadcast the drama from the air. The dog took all the local, state, national, and international developments off the news cycle. NBC national news replayed a clip during the Friday Evening News. It would not let a sleeping dog lie. A medium sized black dog was nonchalantly trotting along the side of the 710 during the height of the evening rush hour, seemingly oblivious to the motorists. The drivers acted erratically for experienced freeway drivers. They did not honk. Nor did they flip the bird at the dog which was stalling traffic. Instead, they slowed down, forming a two lane convoy led by a Bimer convertible. Traffic was backed up, but the sounds of silence came from the cars. The California Highway Patrol was conspicuous by its absence. No CHIP was to be seen. Finally, the dog slowed down and three motorists pulled onto the berm, jumped out of their cars, and tried to corral the errant mutt. They were so brave, and yet so foolish. The bitch was subsequently described as of pit bull ancestry. This pit bull, officially known as the American Staffordshire Terrier, did not put up a fight. Andie Valerio seized the occasion, and the dog, and took her home. Animal Control Friday morning retrieved the black mutt, who currently resides in a Downey shelter for homeless. She deserves better than a shelter; she has panache. The true owner has not come forward. The dog has a collar, but neither a tag nor microchip. We don’t know her name. She deserves better. She’s the only recent dog in LaLa Land with 15 primetime minutes of fame. The owner should claim ownership since this dog is the most famous pit bull since Spuds Mackenzie. She has commercial value. 20 million people in Southern California, and the only news is a stray dog out for a walk along the freeway. No Ferguson, no ISIS, no Obama golf match. Just a nameless stray! Live!