ALBANY, NY — An emotional-support dog was trapped inside the hood of a car for nearly an hour after being struck by the vehicle, but miraculously survived the ordeal, police said.
The Shiba Inu named Coco got stuck after a driver of a Chevy sedan hit her in Albany on North Manning Boulevard on Monday around 11:45 a.m., Rotterdam Police Lt. Jeffrey Collins told ABC News on Wednesday.
The driver, who was 26 but otherwise not identified, got out to look for what she hit, assuming it was either a dog or a ball, but didn't see anything, Collins said.
She then got back in her car and continued to drive to Rotterdam for another 45 minutes, stopping at a friend's along the way before being startled by animal-like noises coming from the hood.
The driver then got out and looked once more, finally spotting Coco in the bumper.
"One of our officers was able to free the dog from the vehicle," Collins said. "It was injured but generally appeared to be okay, surprisingly."
Coco was taken to the vet and is awaiting surgery for a shattered elbow.
Officers managed to get in contact with the owner, Kathy Davis, in Albany.
Davis told ABC News that Coco was out in the yard to go to the bathroom, but must have wiggled her way under the fence and gotten into the street.
"She's an indoor dog. She's my emotional-support dog," Davis said.
She was initially worried about funding the surgery -- which the veterinary clinic told her would amount to between $4,000 and $6,000 -- but an anonymous donor reached out to the clinic and offered to foot the entire bill, she said.
Davis said now she's focused entirely on Coco.
"I guess she's doing okay. We're trying to find a specialist to do the surgery but hopefully it won't be long," she said.
Tammy Van Valkenburgh, an employee at the Hernas Veterinary Clinic in Schenectady, where Coco is being treated, called the dog's survival "a miracle."
"When I walked in yesterday, they told me the miracle dog was here," Van Valkenburgh told The Daily Gazette.
