Meet 8.5 lb Max! (Maximus Securitas)

We work for a lot of strays. In those cases, we are working for the dog after people have let them down. With lost pet cases we are working for both the lost pet and the family that has lost them. These are very traumatic events for both the pet and the family. Rollover accidents are one of the most traumatic of them all. The accident itself is frightening, and afterward the family is not only distraught because of the loss of their pet but also have a form of survivor’s guilt. Most often they do not know what happened to their pet or the direction they traveled, which is understandable given the chaos and confusion of the car wreck.

Max’s family was in a rollover accident at 0750 on 6/15/2025 on I70 near Junction City while traveling from Michigan to Colorado. Through a national page, they reached out to our friend Amy Kenney Coon of Topeka/Lawrence Dog trappers, who I happened to be working on a case in Lawrence, KS at that very moment. She copied the info over to me and I reached out via phone to the son of Max’s owner. Gathering secondhand details on a car wreck is never easy, but at the time all the family were in a local hospital.

So, here’s what we had:  

- A screenshot from Google maps of the approximate location.

- A very rural area with no witnesses or sightings.

- No idea if Max escaped alive or his direction of travel, therefore no idea if he was on the North or South side of I70.

- A 1.5-hour drive to begin to figure out a plan.

- An 8.5 lb dog that is less than a quarter the height of the grass, not to mention the 4-foot-tall corn.

Fortunately, the location was accurate, which I was able to confirm by some personal items discovered on scene. So, the hunt for Max began. One of the biggest concerns about being on the highway is keeping the dog from crossing the highway and getting hit. Dogs from an accident rarely travel far, and they will generally not move at all for the first 24 hours unless they are pushed. Not knowing which side of the highway, the first step is to set up feeding stations with cellular game cameras and spraying attractant on both sides of the highway to try to anchor the dog on whichever side it is on. Then we are on the dog’s schedule.

The first day we contact any adjacent landowners we can and search, but make certain to not aggressively search and scare/push the dog to another area. We ask them to check any cameras they may have and contact us with any sightings, but do not chase. It is likely at this point that I walked by Max 3-5 foot away unable to see him. A traumatized and terrified dog this soon after an accident will not make a peep. We’ve seen this before. There were no sightings on the game cameras overnight, a night that doesn’t allow for much sleep.

Sunrise the next day brought a trip back out to the site to check the feeding stations and readjust cameras based on our overnight observations. They still aren’t ready to move yet, and the next couple days are often determined by weather and hunger. It was a HOT (96) humid day. Smart dogs stay in the shade until evening. The heat of the day gave us a chance to laminate flyers to be posted later. The more people you speak to around the area of a lost pet, the more you realize very few in the area see an online post. We find this every time. Flyers and door-to-door contact are an important part of the search. The plan for the day was to post flyers in the afternoon, search the area and another area to the North, and then sit on site at about 7 PM as it cools and he might start to move or realize he’s hungry and approach a feeding station. In the afternoon, the owner finally had a replacement cellphone in hand, and we were able to make direct contact. Given that the truck was totaled, she had no transportation. We planned for me to pick her up at her hotel as I like to have the owners present in the evenings. We never know which tool will work until the right one does.

After prepping onsite and searching from 4-6:30, I headed over to the hotel. We then headed to review the crash site, (she hadn’t seen it since the accident), the South side of the highway set up, and do some initial searching on the South side. We then crossed over to the Northside and began searching and waiting on that side. We talked a lot about how to let Max approach if seen and the owner was doing a great job, softly calling for Max while I was searching the areas we couldn’t gain access with binoculars. One of the most difficult things to do is not to run to/after an animal when emotions are high. This will only chase them off. She did as coached and while softly calling she started to see some grass moving a little. The prairie grass is two-three feet tall, Max is not.  After watching a trail of grass slightly move, Max appeared from the grass having sought shelter under a thick clump of locust trees. She remained in place, not running up to Max, and Max ran over to be scooped up for a reunion! Lots of joyous tears were shared. It doesn’t get much better than this as an outcome.

He was a hungry and thirsty boy, so we took time to get him comfortable while I picked up all of our flyers and feeding stations from both sides of the highway. I learned Max has a discerning palette. Unfortunately, Aldi was closed so we couldn’t get his preferred treats, but we were able to buy treats and food from the grocery store. Given how much he was missed and was about to be spoiled, I am guessing he might have ended up weighing 9 lbs by the end of the day.

Trauma for both the owner and the dogs in these situations is very real. He’ll stick extra close to Mom for a while, but she honestly wouldn’t have it any other way.