Local Vet, Organization To Help Dog Saved By Officers

MIAMI (CBS4)- With her leg wrapped in a yellow bandage and her tail curled beneath her paws, a injured German Shepherd longs for the comfort of Judy Berger's gentle touch.

Berger will be her new foster mom for now after the dog was rescued from the side of the road where she was left for dead.

"Her name is Samantha, but because Roy rescued her, I'd like to change it to Rae in honor of what he did," Berger said.

Roy is detective Roy Rutland of the Miami-Dade Police Department.

According to Rutland, he saw a car hit the three-year old German Shepherd Monday night near 36th Street and northwest 24th Avenue. The car, he said, kept on going.

"I stopped," Rutland said. "I hesitated whether or not I was going to go after him or address the dog, and when I rolled my window down and looked at the dog literally the dog was crying out for help.

Berger said it was a move like no other.

'There are not a lot of people who will stop in the middle of the road and pick up a dog, especially a German Shepherd."

Rutland found officer Debbie Hilliard-Johnson and the two took the dog to an animal clinic.

"Anytime an officer asks for assistance, you don't think about it, you just do it," said Hilliard-Johnson.

The dog has a micro-chip, but it is not registered, meaning the owner can't be found.

Rutland made a cell phone video, and even paid $200 of his own money for medicine, but Miami-Dade Animal Services does not have the equipment for X-rays.

That's where Paws 4 You Rescue, a group funded only by donations, comes in.

"We'll X-ray her and do a pre-op, and then tomorrow we'll go ahead and see how difficult the damage is to repair," Carol Caridad of Paws 4 You Rescue said.

A Broward County veterinarian has offered to give "Rae" medical treatment.

She has a long recovery ahead, one that will be a little easier with Paws 4 You Rescue and Berger's help.

To contact Miami-Dade Animal Services, call (305) 884-1101.

For more information on Paws 4 You Rescue, click here.