Calgary Transit bus driver rescues runaway dog for frantic owner

A Calgary Transit bus driver is being celebrated for helping to keep a dog on the loose from running onto a busy street.

David Bolander was driving a community shuttle bus in McKenzie Towne when he noticed a woman frantically chasing after a dog along Promenade Way toward McKenzie Towne Link S.E.

Leslie Sammel had been walking her daughter's dog, Charlie, on a leash when the dog slipped out of its collar and ran off.

Bolander pulled over at the stop lights on 52nd Street and put his hazard lights on, and got out to try to stop Charlie from getting to the busy roadway, where it could have been run over.

"I didn't like the dog's chances if it made it to 52nd Street," Bolander said.

As he ran, Bolander called out to a couple of teenagers to stop the dog.

They were able to grab the dog and carried it across the street to Bolander, who quickly passed Charlie over to Sammel.

"At this point I was pretty hysterical," she said.

"The bus driver calmed me down and gave me the dog back. If he had not taken the time to realize my situation, I'm not sure the dog would have survived running across a busy street."

Charlie is a rescue dog that Leslie's 30-year-old daughter, Shannon, recently adopted to help her battle an auto-immune disease that is progressively getting worse.

"As my daughter has said to me, her dog has also rescued her. I cannot adequately express my gratitude to this wonderful bus operator," said Sammel.