John Kronander, a trooper with the Ohio State Highway Patrol, was responding to a call when he ran into a colleague who was responding to the same call about a disabled vehicle.
Kronander pulled out his phone and showed Matthew Denton, a sergeant with the Medina County Sheriff’s Office, a photo of a gray and white puppy.
Kronander had found the puppy earlier that day, Aug. 23, at a highway rest stop in Medina County. The dog was abandoned in a crate with no food or water. Kronander, who was patrolling the area, stopped to rescue the dog around 8 a.m.
A video from Kronander’s body camera showed him approaching the crate. “We’ll get you out of here, okay?” Kronander said to the puppy. “Someone left you?”
The dog appeared friendly and playful when Kronander opened the door to the crate.
“Oh, hello!” Kronander said to the pup. “Are you playing?”
Kronander fed the dog and gave him water, then brought him to the Medina County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. When Denton saw a photo of the dog, he was immediately intrigued.
“That’s a good-looking dog,” Denton recalled telling Kronander, who he considers a work friend.
Denton forwarded the photos to his wife, and she was interested, too. Although they weren’t looking for another dog — they have a Boston terrier named Taser, 7 — when they heard the pup’s backstory and saw how friendly he was in the video, it tugged at their heartstrings.
Clive Wynne, founding director of the Canine Science Collaboratory at Arizona State University, said that kind of friendliness can happen with a neglected animal.
“A dog that is hungry, confused and frightened might be super friendly to the first human that it comes across because it has some understanding that humans are their saviors,” he said. “They realize that getting along with humans is essential to their survival.”
The Ohio State Highway Patrol said it isn’t sure who abandoned the dog or how long he was there for, and security footage of surrounding intersections did not reveal any leads.
The story was picked up by local news, and Denton said he called the shelter two days after the dog was rescued to check on him and schedule a visit with his family. Denton has four children, ages 15, 9, 7 and 5.
“It was fantastic,” Denton said of their visit, noting that the dog, whom the shelter named Miles, is believed to be a pit bull and Great Dane mix and is about 4 months old. “He has such a great temperament. … He definitely does well with other dogs and humans.”
They decided to adopt Miles. It took about two weeks to finalize, as the puppy had a skin issue that required antibiotics, and he had to be neutered. They brought him home on Sept. 5 and renamed him Trooper — a nod to Kronander and a symbol of the dog’s fortitude.
“He’s doing great. He’s very intelligent and has already learned how to sit and lay down,” Denton said, adding that Trooper’s biggest challenge is getting up and down stairs, but he’s gradually improving. “He’s gaining strength. … He’s filling out.”
Denton said it feels rewarding to give Trooper a second chance.
“It’s a great ending,” he said. “I’m glad it worked out this way.”
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