Lucky Dog

Casshew

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A traveler's tail

Saturday, January 3, 2004 Posted: 2144 GMT ( 5:44 AM HKT)

ROSEMOUNT, Minnesota (AP) -- If cats have nine lives, then this dog has at least three.

A wee dachshund from Rosemount earned the nickname Railroad Joe recently, after running away from owners Tom and Cindy Caruth.

The stubby-legged dog took up life on the tracks and made a legend of himself by getting run over by freight trains at least three times in five days -- twice by the same conductor.

The steel wheels nipped one of his floppy ears and sliced off part of his tail. But each time he ducked low enough between the rails for the trains to clear him.

"It's hard telling how many trains went over that poor little dog," said Union Pacific conductor Terry Vanderlinden, the man who ran over Joe twice.

Vanderlinden thought he killed Joe the first time in early November, about a mile from the Caruths' home.

"We saw him, and he was feisty. He was barking at us," Vanderlinden said. "I said, 'Oh boy, this is bad.' We just mowed him down."

Five days later, he was riding the tracks in the opposite direction, heading for South St. Paul. He spotted Joe on the tracks within a mile of where he first encountered him.

"We couldn't believe it. It was the same brown dog with a green tag, only this time he's not feisty," Vanderlinden said. "We plowed him down once again."

straight days," Caruth said. "His tail's a little shorter now. But he's fine."

Full Story from CNN
 

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