Aww of the Day: Cop Stops Highway Traffic to Save Dog

Cujo was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Fortunately, the right cop happened along.

Cujo, a Miniature Rat Terrier with a bad hip, ran away from home one morning several days ago in La Porte, Texas. One of his owners, Jeremy Zapalac, quickly organized a search party. It started raining. Things were getting critical.  

"He hates water," Jeremy later told KHOU 11 News. 

He also said the tiny dog is named Cujo because "he's a monster, frankly," and that he's "a Napoleon type of dog. He's very short, with a very big ego." 

In any case, Cujo was out in the rain. Where, nobody knew. Until Police Officer Kyle Jones spotted Cujo huddled in the cold on the well-trafficked Spencer Highway, hatching a plan. Cujo, it seemed, was going to cross the road. 

"He’s not going to make it if I don’t do something," Jones said of the tiny dog. "When I saw [the dog] and saw the size of it, I immediately hit my lights and shut all the lanes off."

Yep, a cop shut down a highway to save the shivering little dog, who hates water. After he did that, the rest of the rescue operation was all on Cujo. Jones was worried the dog would scamper away. 

"You know how Chihuahuas [sic] are. You're not really sure if you can trust 'em or not," the officer said, laughing. "But he kind of looked at me and said, 'Man, I'm glad you're here.' He let me pick him right up. Stuck him in the back seat of the patrol car."

Cujo had tags, so he was quickly back in the arms of Jeremy Zapalac.

"I was just happy to have him back," Jeremy said. "He was all wet, he was soaked. We got him in, wrapped him up, dried him off, and he just slept in his bed all day." 

Which might have been the end of this story, had not a passing motorist -- well, one of the stopped motorists -- pulled out a camera and snapped a photo of the cop sweet-talking Cujo over to his car. She posted the the photo to Reddit, along with the line "This police officer stopped traffic, in the rain, to save this wet and limping little dog. Faith in humanity.... Restored," and the Internet took it from there.  

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Product Review: Resolve High Traffic Foam

Even indoor dogs can be hard on carpets. Whenever dogs lie down for a long chew on a rawhide chew, run in and out of the yard, or gets dirty at the dog park, the carpets suffer. I have several areas of the carpet that get particularly dingy from dog activity. So I decided to try Resolve High Traffic Carpet Cleaner. 

This is a large area cleaner, so you can do a patch of carpet that’s three feet square, which is usually enough to cover a dirty area in front of a crate or around a bed. It’s designed to work with a gadget called Easy Clan Carpet Brush from Resolve, but you can use it even if you don’t have the brush (which I don’t). Simply shake and spray the foam over the dirty area, then work it into the carpet using a damp, clean mop or cloth. I used a microfiber towel (I use them for everything when I clean around the house). The instructions say you should rub the foam in two directions, wait for it to dry, then vacuum it up.

I have to say, it did a very good job. I feed my dog a raw diet, and occasionally, he’ll take a pork neck bone, chicken wing, or other messy treat to the middle of the floor and commence to gnawing it. This sometimes leaves a damp, yucky mess behind. I start with a damp towel to blot up most of it, then use the foam. This foam seems to attach itself to the dirt and mess, then dries so you can vacuum it up.

There are other high-traffic areas that I’ve tried this foam on. The carpet inside the back door leading to the yard always gets dark and dingy. But this foam cleans the dirt well between professional carpet cleanings (every 6 months). One caution, though. The more a carpet gets abraded, the more it “blooms,” which means the fibers unwind from the loops and give a “spread-out” and worn look. So I wouldn’t want to be rubbing this or any other product vigorously and frequently on the same spot of carpet. However, for occasional cleaning of high-traffic spots that get dirtier than most of the rest of the carpet, Resolve High Traffic Foam does a good job.

The fragrance is light and clean, not perfumy, so you get the added benefit of freshening up the room without overpowering your dog’s sensitive sniffer. You can even use it on upholstery, if your dog should have a mishap. It’s best to use as little foam as you can and avoid overwetting, to avoid rings. Also, you should clean the entire section — all the way to the seam — when cleaning upholstery. NOTE: Evidently, the manufacturer is testing different packaging designs, so your can may look slightly different than the one shown.

Although not a substitute for professional steam cleaning, this is a good product that will help keep dog households with carpeting cleaner between steam cleanings.

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