Letter: Community helped save dog

EDITOR,
Last weekend, some friends of ours, Jim and Biate Webb, came from Oakdale for the weekend to visit, and since they had to run to San Jose for the day, they asked us to watch Cleo, their 4-year-old chocolate lab. This was especially great, since Cleo is the sister of our chocolate lab, Chester. 
Everything was going great until Cleo combat-crawled underneath our side gate and got out of our yard. Once outside, she got spooked, and, being in a totally unfamiliar place, she just ran. In Felton, she ran down Laurel to Plateau, to Redwood, to Highway 9 (right down the center lane of traffic). Then she took a left turn right in the middle of the Highway 9 intersection and ran up Felton Empire Grade.
We chased her on foot and by car. As she ran, cars parted and slowed down. She ran at top speed, frantic. At one point, while I was running after her, I stopped a car going up Felton Empire, driven by a man named Shawn, and he helped me continue the chase. 
A California Highway Patrol officer (officer Christopher Micheels) joined in the pursuit all the way up Felton Empire. Then, as he just about had her, she turned direction and headed back down. All in all, the chase covered several miles and took almost 45 minutes of top-speed running before officer Micheels was able to corral Cleo off the side of the road and get a leash on her.
I wanted to thank all of you who pulled over on the roads for not getting cranky because traffic came to a complete stop, and for waving your arms to oncoming cars to indicate that they should slow down. Without all of your help, I can’t even bear to think what might have happened to Cleo.
Bill and Kim Adams, Felton