[Governor Dinwiddie]

Good question. One man came to the rescue of the dogs and on camera he said he felt electricity when he tried to aid the dogs. There were no wires or metal objects around.

My guess is melted snow mixed with salt seeped beneath the sidewalk into some buried wiring. Salt and water mixed is an excellent conductor of electricity, almost like copper or silver.

[Robert DeLong]

D..C. had 4 inches of snow, so the wire was undoubtably covered up by the snow.

[Jamestown1630]

That sounds likely, given no reports of anyone nearby doing anything against the dogs.

[PallMal]

I remember this very same thing happening in NYC some time ago.

Dog walks over a manhole cover, and zap, gone.

[PGR88]

I didn’t see an address in NW