Dog on the highway: who to call and what not to do
Stay in your car and call 911, or pull off at a safe place first. Give the mile marker and direction. Do not stop in traffic or chase the dog.
Call 911, and stay in your car
If a dog is on a highway or freeway, keep driving safely and call 911, or have a passenger do it. Do not stop in the lanes, do not get out and do not try to catch it. The Arizona Department of Transportation tells drivers to stay in their cars and call 911, and leave the rescue to troopers and road crews. Michigan State Police give the same advice. A dog near a highway is a real emergency, for people as much as for the dog, so this is a proper use of 911. If you are driving alone, get off the highway first and call from a safe place, as ADOT advises for road hazards.
What to tell the dispatcher
Dispatchers need a location that a trooper can find. Give the highway number and direction of travel, the nearest mile marker, exit or overpass, whether the dog is in the lanes, on the shoulder or in the median, which way it is moving, and its size and color. Say something like this: There is a medium black dog in the left lane of I-75 northbound, just past Exit 101, heading north. It is running in traffic. I am not stopped. Stay on the line if asked. Note the time, and if you can do so safely, tell the dispatcher about any collar. If you pass a lost dog sign nearby, mention that later to whoever is on the poster.
What not to do
Do not stop on the shoulder to whistle or open your door. Do not run onto the road, and do not try to block traffic with your own car. Do not follow the dog at low speed, and do not honk to push it along. ADOT warns that people who step out to help can be struck themselves. In April 2025, Michigan troopers on I-75 in Holly Township found several people chasing a Boston terrier across open lanes with traffic speeding by, and had to get them back in their vehicles before they could catch the dog. Chasing can also drive a frightened dog into traffic, or further down the road. The aim is to let responders stop the cars.
Numbers other than 911
Some states have other options. Oregon drivers can dial *677 for the state police non-emergency line for road hazards, Nevada’s Highway Patrol can be reached at *647, and Florida’s at *347. Kentucky runs a 24-hour hazard hotline at 1-877-367-5982 for hazards on state highways. In California, Hayward’s city website tells residents to call the California Highway Patrol about an animal running loose on the highway. These change, and they are not a nationwide system, so save your own state’s number now. If the dog is in or near the lanes, use 911, which is what ADOT and Michigan police say. If it is off the road, in a yard or behind a fence, call the local animal control or police non-emergency line.
What responders do
ADOT says that state troopers and its own staff will temporarily block traffic to keep everyone safe and make it easier to collar the dog or coax it into a vehicle or off the freeway. In the Michigan case, troopers caught the dog, and her collar identified her. Her owner picked her up. There is no promise that someone will arrive in time, and practice differs by state. Some agencies have service patrol crews and some do not. It still gives the dog a better chance than a stranger running through lanes. Once you have made the call, your part is done, so keep driving unless you are told otherwise.
If you hit a dog
Laws differ. New York, for example, requires a driver who strikes and injures a dog to stop and try to find the owner or a police officer, to take reasonable steps so the animal can receive care, and to report the incident. Other states have different rules or none. This is general information, not legal advice. On a highway, your first duty is to avoid a second crash, so get to a safe place if you can and call 911. Do not walk into traffic to reach the dog. An injured dog may also bite, as the American Red Cross warns. Let responders move it, and ask where it will be taken.
If it is your dog
Call 911 only if someone has just seen your dog on or near the road. Say that you are the owner and that you are nearby. If it is an older sighting, call the highway patrol’s non-emergency line and ask them to log it, then call animal control for that county. Do not walk the road yourself. Ask the state transportation department about traffic cameras. In 2024, an Arizona DOT dispatcher used a traffic camera to find a small dog missing for 12 days, as reported by a local news station. It is worth asking, even though you should not count on it. Put posters at exits, gas stations and side roads, and keep off ramps.
If there is no news
Keep calling. Ask vets and emergency clinics near each exit, and ask shelters in every county the highway runs through, since a trooper or passerby may have taken the dog to any of them. Ask highway crews whether they have seen a dog that matches yours. This is a hard call to make. In Virginia, the state agency says it uses collar information to notify families when crews find a pet, but crews are not legally required to carry microchip scanners, so a collar with a phone number matters. No news does not tell you either way. Give each agency your number and ask when you should call back.
Sources
Arizona DOT: azdot.gov/adot-blog/let-professionals-handle-dogs-and-other-animals-freeways. CBS Detroit on Michigan State Police: cbsnews.com/detroit/news/runaway-dog-michigan-state-police. Hayward, CA: hayward-ca.gov/services/city-services/report-animal-emergency. Oregon State Police via KOBI: kobi5.com/?p=70721. Nevada Highway Patrol: nhp.nv.gov/layouts/Page_Style_1.aspx?id=31828. Kentucky Highway Hazard Hotline: transportation.ky.gov/IncidentManagement/Pages/Highway-Hazard-Hotline.aspx. New York Vehicle and Traffic Law 601: nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/VAT/601. American Red Cross: redcross.org/take-a-class/resources/learn-pet-first-aid/dog/car-accidents. AZFamily: azfamily.com/2025/01/22/adot-dispatcher-uses-traffic-cams-help-find-dog-missing-12-days. Cardinal News: cardinalnews.org/2026/09/18/deceased-dog-whose-microchip-wasnt-checked-by-highway-crew-raises-questions-about-virginia-policies-laws.