Watch the moment bewildered dog stuck in traffic meets kindhearted trooper in Tennessee
A lost dog became so overwhelmed during a storm that it appeared to freeze in traffic, as if begging for one of the drivers to help it.
What happened next was caught on video and it’s both heartwarming and funny.
Trooper Lance Willis of the Tennessee Highway Patrol was driving through the downpour when he noticed something brought traffic to a standstill in Kingsport, about a 280-mile drive northeast from Nashville.
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“It looked like there was some kind of animal that was in the road,” Willis said in a video shared July 6 by the Tennessee Highway Patrol.
“When I got close enough to see, there was a large dog that looked like what was a brown German Shepherd. ... And there were cars in both lanes that were stopped.”
What Willis did next resulted in him being called heroic by animal lovers.
Video recorded by a witness shows he pulled into the center of the road, got out in the torrential rain and patiently held his door open, beckoning the dog to hop inside.
And it did just that, not even bothering to make eye contact.
Willis hasn’t revealed what he said to the dog, but apparently she trusted him implicitly.
The video had been viewed more than 160,000 times as of July 8, and had more than 3,000 reactions and comments. Most lauded Willis for his “amazing act of kindness.”
“You saved an animal’s life and probably prevented an accident,” Ann Carroll wrote on the department’s Facebook page.
“Thanks to the German Shepherd that knew the officer was trying to help and went straight into the cruiser without making the officer try to wrangle him in,” Valerie Perales posted.
“You can tell a lot about a person by the way they treat animals,” Jaime Ferguson said.
Many commenters also wanted to know what became of the dog.
“Yes the owner came and got her,” the highway patrol wrote.
This story was originally published July 8, 2024 at 7:44 AM with the headline "Watch the moment bewildered dog stuck in traffic meets kindhearted trooper in Tennessee."