Via SacBee:
Patches, the little lost dog who escaped a Sacramento-area pet boarding business, wagged his tail in greeting during an emotional reunion with his owner at the Sacramento SPCA.
The 4-year-old Jack Russell terrier owes his rescue to a too-close encounter with a vehicle on South Watt Avenue early Thursday morning and to the caring motorists who stopped and came to his aid.
Among them was Nathan Cinder, a Sacramento SPCA employee.
Cinder said it was still dark out when he noticed vehicles ahead of him coming to a stop and a truck veer off to the side. He feared a bicyclist might have been hit, but then saw the little dog tumble on the roadway. Cinder said he and other motorists corralled the dog and one man gave Cinder his coat so he could pick up the animal.
The dog was wearing a collar identifying him as Patches, and upon arrival at the SPCA on Florin-Perkins Road, a microchip confirmed his identity.
“Hi baby. Hi baby,” tearful owner Roxanne Ullman said Thursday afternoon as she embraced Patches, the rescue dog she adopted when he was 3 months old.
“I’m so grateful to have him back,” Ullman said. “I was trying not to give up hope the entire time.”