The Dog Was Running, So the Subway Was Not

NEW YORK — Subways get delayed for all kinds of reasons these days — electrical problems, sick passengers, debris on the tracks.

On Friday, it was a runaway dog.

Her name was Dakota, and she shut down F service between Brooklyn and Manhattan for more than an hour before a subway worker found her two stations away from where she entered.

Dakota, a poodle, was at the dog park in Brooklyn near the Manhattan Bridge at 2:55 p.m., police said, when something spooked her. She ran.

She ran into the York Street station four blocks away and somehow ended up on the tracks, said Officer George Tsourovakas, a police spokesman.

Witnesses saw the dog running south on the northbound track and notified transit workers. “Police are called and also respond,” said Shams Tarek, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. “Power has to be cut.”

This meant no trains at York Street, which is the first stop in Brooklyn. So no F between Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Dakota kept running. Passengers saw her at the next station south, Jay Street. The MTA shut down the F there, too. The F in Brooklyn was rerouted onto the G line. Delays spilled over to the A and C lines.

Announcements were made. Passengers fumed. Dakota kept running.

She was spotted on the tracks at the next station, Bergen Street. A train service supervisor, Sonya Hill, went down to the tracks and grabbed her, Tarek said.

It was now 4:06 p.m. Dakota had run for over a mile and suffered what police said was a minor injury.

Dakota was reunited with her owner.

Service was restored.