"How could you not feel bad for her?" said Officer Carl Fierimonte, staring down at the quivering German shepherd, who had her ears back and her tail tucked in terror.
"I don't want to see her put down," said Sgt. James DeAngelo, holding the leash. "We've got to find her a home."
The puppy had just swatted her paw into a plastic bowl of water provided by a passer-by - to wipe away the blood from an injury.
"See how smart she is?" DeAngelo said, beaming.
"German shepherds are brilliant."
The drama began when a call about a loose dog came over police radio to 9th District headquarters at 21st and Hamilton streets.
The officers knew exactly whom to tell: Jimmy DeAngelo.
He owns a boxer named Bruno and everyone knows he has a soft spot for dogs.
DeAngelo took off and met up with Fierimonte, who was on a traffic detail at 20th and the Parkway and had already begun trying to woo the dog with water and food provided by a nearby resident. Fierimonte also loves dogs and has two show Rhodesian ridgebacks at home.
"She'd get close and then other people would come up and she'd run away," Fierimonte said.
An animal-control officer from the Philadelphia Animal Care and Control Association also came on the scene to help.
When the puppy took off, Fierimonte and DeAngelo followed in hot pursuit.
They chased her on foot, then in their vans - no sirens, they said, just that jarring single loud police horn now and then - then on foot again, stopping traffic along the way to make sure the dog wasn't run over.
After a wild chase up and down streets, they finally cornered the puppy on 15th Street near Callowhill - at the back door of the Daily News/Inquirer building.
A PACCA worker tossed a net over the terrified dog, and put a leash on her.
When I happened on the scene, PACCA was gone and both officers were tenderly attending to the dog, petting her, talking with her, trying to calm her down.
DeAngelo was intent on finding someone to adopt the dog.
