MURRAY, Utah – A dog and her owner are together again after the animal was found running through interstate traffic Thursday afternoon.
A heartfelt reunion can be seen between Jerrika Casten and her sweet pup, Sweets.
“Aw! She’s wagging her tail!” Casten can be heard saying in the video as she joins her lost dog in a kennel at Murray Animal Shelter.
“You want to go home? Let’s go bye-bye,” Casten continued.
It’s a moment Casten thought was never going to happen after she lost control of the 2-year-old black lab Wednesday afternoon.
“She was running down the stairs really, really fast and it was either I was falling with her or needed to let go,” Casten said as she explained how she lost Sweets. “And then she just booked it, I was trying to chase her, and I was crying. I was looking around the area for hours and hours.”
She thought she was never going to see Sweets again.
“I was just thinking of all of these scenarios, like getting hit. It’s just really scary,” said Casten.
Little did Casten know, Sweets almost did.
Utah Highway Patrol found Sweets running through traffic on I-15 near 5300 South.
“We got a call about a dog running southbound on northbound lanes,” said Trooper Jake Gallegos with Utah Highway Patrol. “Saw a black lab just running on the road, it ran, darted across the lanes.”
With the help from a good Samaritan, Trooper Gallegos was able to grab Sweets and pull her to safety.
“Fortunately, traffic was paying attention,” Gallegos said.
Thanks to a Facebook post that UHP made about the dog, Casten knew just where to find her – the Murray Animal Shelter.
“You’re so lucky baby,” Casten said to Sweets as she rubbed her belly.
“We’re not going anywhere again,” she said as she kissed her dog.
Now Jerrika is not taking one minute with Sweets for granted, and she has some good news to bring home to her family.
“I found her mom!” Casten said as she answered the phone.
While a citizen did help to rescue Sweets, UHP said if you see an animal on the highway, don’t get out of your car and give them a call.
