Street sweeper gets everything, including a 125-pound dog

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The last time Gene Fee saw his dog, Zoe, the 125-pound animal was racing straight at a multi-ton street sweeper.

Then she was gone. And Fee was sure his Great Pyrenees was a lost cause.

"That man swept up my dog," Fee told John Reutter, who jumped out of the dump truck he was driving behind the sweeper when he noticed the distraught pet owner.

Certain of Zoe's fate, Fee ran home and missed what happened next.

Reutter immediately told the sweeper's driver to stop, then called for help. He went up on the truck to look inside the vehicle between the conveyor and the broom.

"And there she was standing there, looking up," stuck in a small space, held above the ground, he said.

Within 10 minutes, six men arrived in three city maintenance vehicles. The workers removed the bolts, hinges and broom underneath -- and 20 minutes later, a blackened Zoe walked from an opening they created under the truck.

"She came out and wanted to be petted and reassured," Reutter said of Wednesday's rescue. "I expected a small dog. But here was this beautiful, white dog, covered with dirt and grease."

An animal control officer who had arrived with the city workers found a phone number on Zoe's collar and called Fee. Finally convinced that the call was not a joke, Fee jumped in his vehicle and headed to the scene, where his next surprise was the number of city vehicles already there.

"I first thought that we brought the city government to a standstill," said the 70-year-old former attorney.

Fee took Zoe to a veterinarian, who administered a shampoo, physical exam and pain pills. The two were home by evening.

"If that many people respond to a dog, I guess a person would get a lot of attention in this town," Fee said.