Students and staff at Shahala Middle School had an eventful morning when a dog boarded a bus and came to school with them Wednesday.
It all started when Amaya, a nearly 1-year-old white Bull Terrier, got free from her fenced yard along 172nd Avenue about 7:30 a.m.
They called for her about 45 minutes later, but Amaya didn’t come back.
“Then we noticed the gate was completely down,” said AnnDee Vorrayo, Amaya’s owner. “With the storm, the fence has blown down a few times.”
They drove around the neighborhood to look for her, but didn’t have any luck. Meanwhile, Amaya had an adventure herself.
Susanne Heyman was driving a school bus along her normal route when the hyper Bull Terrier ran out into the street near Northeast 172nd Avenue and Northeast Sixth Street.
The dog went under the bus and when Heyman opened the door, Amaya darted on board.
“The next thing I know, she was at the back of the bus,” Heyman said. “We tried to get her off the bus, but she wasn’t having it.”
So Heyman made a decision – rather than leave the dog running in the street, she continued onto the school. She used her radio to let school officials know to be prepared for the dog when they got there.
It was only a four minute ride, but Amaya enjoyed it all the same, Heyman said.
“She sat on a seat facing forward and put her paws on the seat in front of her and was riding like, this is where I belong,” Heyman said. “She was barking and making a lot of noise. She was so happy.”
When they got to school, Heyman was able to get the dog and pick her up. She carried the dog off the bus into the hands of a school security officer.
“She wiggled out of his arms, and ran all over the sidewalks, went in the building, came out of the building,” Heyman said. Finally, she said, the custodian caught her and was able to put her in the bathroom until Clark County Animal Control Officer Trish Kraff arrived.
“She had quite the day,” she said. “It’s like a ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ episode.”
The dog didn’t have a collar and none of the students claimed the dog as belonging to them. Kraff checked the animal for a microchip, but didn’t find one. She took the dog to the Humane Society for Southwest Washington.
“It’s a sweet dog,” she said. “Had she had (a chip), we would be able to get her home right away.”
Eventually Vorrayo called animal control and learned that not only had her dog had been found and was safe, but that she’d ridden the bus to school.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Vorrayo said. Then, she added, “she loves kids, so it does not surprise me that she would do it.”
Vorrayo went with her husband Julio and 2-year-old son Julian to pick up Amaya at the humane society when they opened at noon.
Happy to have their dog back, the Vorrayo’s got Amaya microchipped on the spot and said they were going home to fix their fence.