There’s no feeling more ᴛᴇʀʀɪꜰʏɪɴɢ than if your dog has ever run away from you, and with busy roads and ᴅᴀɴɢᴇʀᴏᴜs ʜᴀᴢᴀʀᴅs all around, the potential for an ᴀᴄᴄɪᴅᴇɴᴛ can be very likely. Unfortunately, our dogs can escape sometimes no matter how careful we think we’re being, and if this ever happened, we’d pray that someone did a good deed and looked after them. One pup found herself in this exact situation, though luckily, help was on hand in the form of a police officer.

Meet Cece, a much-loved Yorkshire Terrier from Woonsocket, R.I. One day she slipped out of the back door of her house. The ꜰʀɪɢʜᴛᴇɴᴇᴅ pup kept running until she reached an embankment. Officer Joe Bʀᴀᴢɪʟ is always ready to help, and he didn’t think twice about saving a helpless dog. On May 2, 2016, Peggy Edwards posted her tale on Facebook, where it quickly gained popularity. We were all moved by the story because it was so heartfelt. Her tale involved Joe, a policeman from Woonsocket, Rhode Island. It all began when a car scared off a cute but fearful Yorkshire terrier puppy.

In her ᴘᴀɴɪᴄ, she ran down the embankment and straight into a river. When she tried to escape, the poor pooch was instead carried down the embankment and into an underground tunnel. Witnesses tried to lure Cece out of the tunnel but each time she attempted to step off the ledge she got taken farther down the tunnel by the current. The situation soon became desperate.

Luckily, a Woonsocket police officer was on hand to help. Without even stopping to think, Joseph Bʀᴀᴢɪʟ bravely pulled off his shoes and socks and waded into the stream to ʀᴇsᴄᴜᴇ the pup. Peggy Edwards said: “A call to Woonsocket police and fire depts sent Officer Joe Bʀᴀᴢɪʟ to the ʀᴇsᴄᴜᴇ. He went in without hesitation and came out with a very wet, scared little dog. Great guy, Lucky dog. We are very happy he was able to save the little gal. As I got closer, I could see Cece just clinging to the side and just shaking. (The dog was) very, very ꜰʀɪɢʜᴛᴇɴᴇᴅ.”

He approached the ᴛᴇʀʀɪꜰɪᴇᴅ pup and held out his hand for her to sniff so that she knew he wasn’t going to ʜᴜʀᴛ her. He then took her in his arms and waded back through the river, and Joseph said he could sense Cece’s gratitude. Bʀᴀᴢɪʟ said: “It just seemed like she was almost saying thank you. Like she knew I was there to help.”

Cece’s owner, Michelle Perez, was also incredibly grateful. She had just been gifted the pup by her mother-in-law and she had managed to escape from a back door just a day later. Perez was frantic with worry. She said: “She’s only 5 months old. All I kept doing was just driving around, calling her.” Once she had been ʀᴇsᴄᴜᴇᴅ, Cece was taken to the Woonsocket Animal Shelter where she was dried off and given ᴛʀᴇᴀᴛᴍᴇɴt. Michelle called the shelter on Monday and was overjoyed to find that her puppy was safe. She went straight to pick her up.